With Azir Girges in Egypt

Front matter

DT

WITH AZIR GIRGES

IN EGYPT i

Contents

PAGE

I The Home OF AziR GiRGES 13

II How THE People Live in Egypt 19

Chapter I

Azir Girges lives in Luxor. He lives in a mud house on one of the main streets and that is where we are to visit him on this very hot day in February.

In the picture we see the street leading up to Azir Girges's house. Close by sits an old woman with her flat loaves of unleavened bread spread out in the dusty road for their first baking in the hot sun. A queer kitchen, isn't it? and not very clean.

A little farther up the street, and on each side, there are high walls of crude hand-made bricks. On the right side of the street w^e come to a wooden door set in the mud wall. Azir is there to welcome us and he proudly shows us into the house, where we are introduced to his mother and his sister Louise. What a strange house this would seem to be to an American girl or boy! Within the walls are several little al-

THE STREET ON WHICH AZIR GIRGES LIVES coves or rooms. Here the hens, the doves, the donkeys, and the family live together.

A tall, hollow mud cylinder stands near the middle of the court. It is filled with grain for food. We look for chairs and beds and other ordinary comforts, but do not find them. Here is a platform made of earth near the center of the room.

"What is this, Azir?" \yc ask, pointing to it.

"That is the bed where my father sleeps," he replies.

You see, Azir has learned to speak English fairly or

THE HOME OF AZIU GIRGES well. He has been to the Mission School of Luxor and he has also been a donkey boy for a number of years, thus meeting daily through the winter months many English and American travelers, and he has acquired many English words.

"But where do you and your brothers sleep?" we inquire curiously.

''Oh, on the roof, and around," is his reply.

These simple, kind people are always ready to give their visitors something of the little which they have, and Azir's mother immediately takes her best dress from the hempen rope that stretches across one of the small alcove rooms. How the dust flies as she pulls it from the line where it has hung for a long

AZiK Gii;i:i;s and his huxkey time just above the dirt floor! She presents the dress to one of the ladies of the party, who declines to take it, in the most polite manner possible, for it is offered in the kindly spirit shown by the people of the East.

Little Louise, a dark-skinned, pretty girl, hurries toward a small closet in the wall. Its door is about a foot square. In the closet Louise keeps the schoolbooks that have been given to her at the Mission School. But something else is stored away in that closet; it is a shawl w^hich she has been taught to crochet. It must be her chief treasure, the work of her busy little fingers, but she brings it out and politely presents it to one of the visitors.

Now, true courtesy in Egypt requires that some one of the things presented shall be kept, so the little shawl is taken away, only to be returned to Louise on the last day of our. stay in Luxor. We of course shall tell her that it has been greatly enjoyed and that we now wish to have the pleasure of presenting it in turn to her. It is an ancient custom among orientals to give a guest the pleasure of enjoying some treasure of the family, and later of returning it or some equivalent gift. Louise is made very happy by the present of a brightly-printed cotton dress purchased in the market-place, and of money to pay her tuition at school for another year.

We are next invited to go upstairs to a room built on the roof of one part of the house. Here we get a good view of the interior of the home. How strange some of the walls look! They are made of large earthen jars laid in rows one over another, the spaces between the jars being filled with mud.

While we are standing here, we notice Azir's mother taking some small unwashed cups out of ano*ther cupboard in the mud wall.

''What is your mother doing, Azir?" we ask.

''She is preparing coffee for you," he replies.

"But where is the stove?"

Azir points to a small mound of dried earth shaped like a beehive, in the court below. It has a small door and a space within for the fire.

No wood is used in building the fire, for these poor people have no wood. There are no forests in Egypt, so there are no trees to cut down for fire-wood or for building material. Here and there palmgroves protect the villages from the great heat of the sun. But it would not do to cut down those trees, as they are needed for shade. So these poor families burn the dry refuse of the stable-yard and the dovecote.

With this poor fuel Azir's mother is making the fire and slowly preparing the coffee. It is not pleasant to drink the coffee, for the cups are very dirty. We hesitate and Azir says,

''You must take coffee. You always say 'No' when you come here. The last time you said you could not stop, as you were in a hurry to go to the temple of Karnak. Today you have much time, so you must take coffee with us."

It is hard to disappoint these people when they have done everything in their power to entertain their guests. To refuse their hospitality causes them pain; for they are true and loyal, courteous and kind.

We know that the ancient Egyptians were very courteous because of such words as these written more than thirty-five hundred years ago:

"Do not remain sitting when thy elder, or thy superior, is standing."

"Be not discourteous to the stranger who is in thy house. He is thy guest."

A TOWN IX EGYPT

Chapter II Ax Egyptiax Town

What a strange picture this is, of a town in Egypt! It is very much like the village that Azir Girges lives in. We see a few houses that look comfortable, but most of the people live in houses that are simply walls of mud held in place by sticks driven into the ground.

Sometimes the walls are made of small bricks of mud mixed with straw. The bricks are first dried in the sun, but they do not get hard like the burnt bricks with which we build our houses. They are laid one upon another, making high walls that enclose one large room or court.

That large room has no roof, but the owner usually builds other little rooms against the wall and covers them with straw and corn-stalks. It seldom rains in Egypt; therefore a roof of this kind is all that is needed to keep out the hot sun. Sometimes a roof is

THE MAKKET-PLACE made of mud bricks and curved in the form of an arch or vault shaped like a half-barrel, as you may see in the picture.

In rooms like those described boys and girls live with their parents, and it often happens that their donkeys and other animals live with them in the large room. The rooms have no floor of wood. The earth is the floor and is so dry that it becomes very dusty.

Hew the People Live in Egypt

THE RIVER BAXK AT LUXOR

The dust is often several inches deep and the dirt flies everywhere. The village streets also are very dusty. The sun is hot and even in winter the days are very warm. But there are beautiful palm-trees in some of the towns, and their shade is enjoyed by the boys and girls who run about and play, just as boys and girls do in America.

In its center, or sometimes just outside the town, is the market-place, w^here people meet to trade in food, animals, and clothing. The people live mostly on bread made from wheat flour, and on corn, barley, rice, lentils, beans, and other vegetables. They need but little clothing because of the heat, the climate being very warm most of the year. As they live in the sun all their lives, their skin is of a beautiful bronze color.

It is a curious sight to see the people on market day, for everyone from all the nearby villages seems to be going to market. The main road is over the mud-bank of the river Nile. A strange and long procession stretches away toward the market-place. Men, women, and children hurry along, their loose clothing fluttering in the fresh wind of the morning.

There are animals of many kinds and sizes in the procession, including camels, donkeys, buffaloes, cows, calves, sheep, and goats. The camels are often so heavily laden that they look like great bundles walking along the river-bank. Little donkeys stagger under their burdens of vegetables, grain, and live chickens. There are men with great travs of flat round loaves of bread, which they hope to sell before nightfall. There are cows and goats to be milked in the open market, so that the purchasers may have a fresh supply of warm milk.

The market-place itself is the center of interest to everyone. Many go there to buy and to sell; many just to see the sights and to talk with friends. Toward sunset the long procession returns and all go back contented and happy to their homes in the little mud villages.

Hois: the People Live in Egypt

AN EGYPTIAN VILLAGE

CHILDREN OF EGYPT

What a beautiful group of palm-trees this is! They grow by a small reservoir which is filled with water from the Nile. Under the trees are Azir Girges and his old gray donkey. The donkey's saddle, as you see, is very large. It is padded in front, and therefore is very thick. Perhaps the padding is to keep his rider from sliding ofi when the donkey falls down.

The poor donkey's legs are not very strong. His knees are weak, and often when he is made to trot with a heavy rider on his back his legs suddenly give out, and down he goes. Then what do you think happens? The man on his back has to be quick if he would jump, but often he has no time to jump, and he goes over the donkey's head to the ground. The man and the donkey look very much ashamed as they scramble to their feet again. The straps are then tightened around the donkey's body to hold the saddle on more firmly, and again the rider jumps to the back of the little animal.

We see two little boys in the picture. One is sitting on the ground and the other is standing by the head of the white donkev. Their dress is verv much like that of the girl who has her hand up to her face. She does not wish to have her photograph taken. Girls and women in Egypt do not like to have men take photographs of them. They usually cover their faces whenever they meet men on the street.

Nearly all the boys and men wear long blue or white gowns that look very much like the dresses of women. The woman in the picture holds a basket on her head. She can carry the basket in that wav when it is full. She does not have to balance it with her hands.

Across the water is the village of Karnak. All its houses seem to be made of mud and sun-dried bricks. In some of them which have no roofs we see large cylinders of dried mud. The cylinders are storeclosets. Perhaps they are used for storing grain until it is needed by the family.

Some of the cylinders have tops that look like great bowls. This cvlinder has a hole in the side. We

THE CHILDItEX S SLEEPING PLACE shall ask Azir what it is used for. What do you suppose he says? He tells us that this is the room where the small children sleep at night. Their parents put them into the cylinder through the hole and then close it. The children are thus safe for the night. They cannot fall out of bed, and jackals or other animals cannot trouble them.

If the children wake up they may amuse themselves by looking up at the many stars. The stars are very bright indeed, because there are no clouds or rain and the air is very clear. There is no need of a light. The children go to bed early, for they must be up before it gets hot in the bright sun.

26 Hoin: the People Live in Egypt

Perhaps the children are sometimes kept awake by the barking of dogs. There are a great many dogs in the little Egyptian villages, and they bark wildly at night. If we ride on our donkeys through a village street at night, we shall find no lights in the street and but few in the houses, yet the place will seem alive with dogs. And oh, how they do bark! Everyone in these towns, it would seem, keeps dogs. The dogs do not get much to eat and they are very lean and miserable.

Poor people that have very little themselves always seem to keep dogs. One would think them so poor that they would not try to take care of animals. But the fact that they do, shows that however poor people may be, they still have in their hearts a place for helpless creatures. People do not have to be rich to be kind. Poor people can be just as kind as rich people and if they are very kind they will be happy.

So, let us remember that the men and women, and boys and girls, in these mud villages of Egypt are not unhappy. They love one another and are fond of their animals, and they are kind to strangers and to travelers.

WATER-CARRIERS OF THE NILE

The water of the river Nile is very muddy. It does not look like pure water that may be good to drink, yet Azir and all the other people living in the towns along the river must get their daily supply n

WOMEN WITH WATER JARS from it. So, in the early morning and evening hours, we find men, women, and children, among them doubtless Azir's family, wading into the river to fill their jars and water bags. They do not seem to mind walking in the w^ater and stirring it up till it is even muddier than it was before they came.

The women fill large earthen jars, which they skillfully balance on their heads. They can carry those jars full of water on their heads to the village, without touching them with their hands.

The men have leather bags made of the skins of animals which they fill with water and carry upon their backs. The bags are supported by a rope hung over the left shoulder. All the water used in the

Hoiv the People Live in Egypt

villages for washing, cooking, and drinking must be carried from the river in such earthen jars and leather bags.

The water is warm when first drawn from the river, but after it is put into porous earthen jars it becomes cool in a short time. That is the way in which people get cool water for drinking purposes, in hot countries where there is no ice. The jars are porous and a little of the water oozes through to the outside surfaces, and evaporates. In evaporating, the water gives ofif so quickly the heat which has been absorbed from the sun's rays that the jar becomes cool and so cools the water.

Every day men go about the streets of Luxor and other towns with drinking-water to sell. They carry it in large earthen bottles that hang from their

WATER SELLERS shoulders, as seen in the picture. One of the boys in the picture has a water-jar on his shoulder and the other boy has just had his cup filled from it. Some-

30 Ho^v the People Live in Egypt

times the water is sweetened to give it a pleasant flavor like our soda water.

In some of the larger towns men water the streets by sprinkling water from a leather bag carried on the back, for the ground is covered with fine earth that is very dry.

Nearly everyone in the small towns in Egypt goes barefoot. In the evening when the men and boys wish to bathe, they go down to the river near the places where they get their supply of drinking-water. It makes no difference whether or not people are filling their water bottles there. They do not think the water dirty. They regard it as sweet and clean, because it comes from the great river that means so much to them.

The ancient Egyptians used to believe that there was a great god of the Nile. They knew that their lives were absolutely dependent upon the river and its yearly overflow. Without that overflow there could be no crops and no food for them. But they could not understand whv the river should overflow its banks every summer. So they thought that there must be a god who watched carefully over the waters of the Nile, bringing life to the people of Egypt. They were very grateful indeed, and they showed their gratitude in their hymns and songs as well as in various other ways, as in these words:

"Shine forth, shine forth, O Nile ! shine forth ! Giving life to men by his oxen ; Giving life to his oxen by the pastures! Shine forth in glory, O Nile."

CAMELS LADEN WITH WOOD

CAMELS AND CARAVANS

The camel in this picture is laden with wood. There is not much wood in Egypt that can be used for fire-wood, and when a tree dies or is cut down men dig out its roots, that no wood may be wasted. The wood on this camel is bound by ropes around his body. It is a cruel load, for the ugly roots must hurt him very much.

The people of Egypt have few carts or wagons and heavy loads must be carried on the backs of camels and donkeys. In that way all the grass and grain and all the vegetables and fruits are carried from place to place. In the picture Azir Girges's brother is driving his camel through the town. The bridle is simply a noose of rope put around the camel's head just above its nose. The noose is kept in place by a smaller rope slipped back of the ears. The boy has a leading-rope in his hand and carries a whip made of rope. The bags of netting supported by the wooden frame upon the camel's back are to hold the load of goods that Azir's brother is to get in a near-by village.

Can you imagine how the boy got upon the camel's back? When the boy wants to get on or ofif the camel, he makes the animal kneel down and the camel then drops his huge body gradually to the ground. Then the boy can easily mount or dismount. When the camel rises, he seems to unfold his hind legs part way, and then his front legs, and then his hind legs again, so that his body sways first one way and then another. If one is not careful, there is danger of being thrown off the camel's back when he rises to start on his journey.

In some parts of the desert of Sahara great caravans may be seen. They consist of a large company of merchants using camels to carry their goods. Formerly caravans furnished the only method of bringing merchandise from the interior of the country to the coast. Many men traveling together in a caravan can pass in safety over the unprotected highways of the East, which are often infested with robbers. If no village is near, they pitch their tents in a large group, when they rest at night.

THE BliOTIIER OF AZIR UIRCiES

A CAItAVAN IX THE DESEUT

Caravans form a very interesting picture. The men, some riding and others walking beside their camels, are dressed in the white flowing robes of the East. Camels are often called "ships of the desert." Laden with heavy bales of goods, they hurry forward with a long swinging stride. Camels can live longer without fresh water than any other animals. Nature has provided them w^ith a receptacle for water from which they are able to quench thirst during their long hot journeys. Their feet are provided with soft cushions, which enable them to walk in the sand more easily than donkeys and horses.

What a dreary country this would be to live in! Yet there are hundreds of miles of desert in the northern part of Africa and many tribes live in tents on the little spots of fertile soil called oases.

Chapter III The Great River

Today we are going with Azir Girges to the temple of Karnak, which is near the village of Luxor. We are going to ride on donkeys, for it is nearly two miles to the temple. There are no street-cars in the town of Luxor, and if we wish to ride we shall select the best donkey we can find. In Egypt the boy or the man who cares for your donkey and goes with you wherever you wish to go over the fields and desert is called a 'Monkey boy."

Azir Girges is one of the donkey boys that we are to take with us not only today but on many other days. He is such a good donkey boy that we may take him to many places in Egypt. He will be of great service to us. As a donkey boy he must look after our donkey every day. He must see that the animal is fed and cared for. In the morning he must fasten the saddle upon the donkey's back and have everything ready for the day's trip. He must help us mount and then urge his donkey on as fast as its little legs will carry it. But the donkey in reality goes very slowly and Azir Girges can easily

THE TEMPLE OF KARXAK keep pace with it. Sometimes, when a donkey boy thinks that you are not looking, he twists the donkey's tail, making the donkey start and turn part way round very suddenly. If you are not careful you may be thrown from his back.

Azir Girges has been to the Mission School and has learned a little English. By the time we say "good-bye" to him when we leave Egypt, he will have learned much more that will be of use to him, for he is to travel with us far from his home and he will talk with us every day and try to answer our many questions.

This great temple of Karnak, the ruins of which we are approaching, was built many hundreds of years ago by the people we call ancient Egyptians. It has in front of it a great gateway called a pylon. A pylon or gateway is a very wide and high wall of cut stone with a place for large gates in its center. We are going to climb the pylon in front of the temple of Karnak, to get a view of the beautiful valley of the Nile.

VIEW I'liOM THE PYLON OI^ KARNAK

In the center of the picture that we see is the river Nile. On both sides of the river is the black, rich soil of the land of Egypt. We can see the wide fields that have been planted by Azir Girges's father and other men of the village. Those fields will soon be covered with a bright carpet of green and, later in the season, will be brilliant with waving grain.

Farther to the westward are the sandstone mountains, which glitter in the bright sunshine; for the sun nearly always shines during the day in Upper Egypt. Those mountains are in the great desert of drifting sands that borders the valley of the Nile.

The desert, which is a part of the great Sahara Desert, stretches from the black soil of the Nile Valley far away for hundreds of miles to the west. If we should now turn squarely round we should see the desert on the east also, with its high sparkling clififs.

In the front of the picture spread out before us is another little town of mud houses shaded by palm-trees. We can see people walking in the loose dirt of the village street. It is market day and they are going to Luxor to market. Some have articles to sell and others are going to buy their week's supply of food.

'^Is this the way all Egypt looks?" you ask. Yes, for Egypt in reality is a very narrow strip of land extending for hundreds of miles along the banks of the great river Nile. In some places the fertile black soil is only a few hundred feet wide and in other places it is one or more miles wide.

Except near the Delta, which is the place where the Nile flows into the sea, very little rain ever falls in Egypt. Azir, who lives quite a long distance from the sea, says that he has never seen it rain.

"But if it never rains, how does the land get water for the grass, the grain and the vegetables?" you inquire.

Far up in the mountains and lakes of Africa, under the equator, four thousand miles from the sea, the Nile river begins its long journey to the sea. Rain falls on the mountain-sides and fills the

A TOWN .STRUOtlNDED BY THE NILE

Streams and lakes. From those mountain streams the water flows into the Nile and then down the long stretch of fertile soil to the Mediterranean sea.

But the banks of the Nile river, though very high, cannot hold all the water. After a time the water reaches the tops of the banks and then spreads out over all the low land of Egypt, even to the edge of the desert on each side. During the overflow of the river some parts of the country are like great lakes.

The towns are on a little higher level than that of the flat land and during the summer are entirely surrounded by water, just as you see the city of Assiout in the picture. A crooked road leads from that island city to the edge of the desert hills of sand. After it has stopped raining in the mountains and a great deal of the water has either soaked into the ground or has reached the sea, the Nile gradually recedes until it is again many feet below the level of its banks.

The land, however, has been thoroughly watered by that time and the rich mud carried by the river remains on the surface of the ground, and makes it so fertile that plants grow in it very rapidly. A great deal of water is caught and held in lakes and canals so that it can be pumped up on to the land again during the dry season. The climate of Egypt is so warm that the Egyptians can plant their grain in the winter months and their crops will grow very fast.

This hymn to the Nile river written in Egypt more than three thousand years ago shows how sacred to the Egyptians was that noble river:

''Hail to thee, O Nile!

Thou showest thyself in this land, Overflowing the gardens created by Ra ; Giving life to all animals; Watering the land without ceasing: The way of heaven descending: Lover of food, bestower of corn, Giving light to every home."

PLOWING IN EGYPT

PLOWING, PLANTING, AND HARVESTING IN EGYPT

In the picture on this page we see the brother of Azir Girges plowing. How black and rich is the soil that the river has deposited! A thin coating of mud is left on the land every time the river overflows its banks, and that little coating of mud added to those of many, many years before, has made the soil of the Nile Valley very rich. You remember the story of Joseph in Egypt and how, when he was governor of the country, he sold corn to his brothers in Canaan and to all the countries round about Egypt in time of famine. On page 119 you will see a picture of storehouses such as were used for storing corn in years of plenty, to provide for possible years of famine.

The soil of the Nile Valley is so fertile that Egyptian farmers do not have to plow very deep. Their plow seems to us most crude and primitive. It is made of three rough pieces of wood fastened to-

A FIELD READY FOR FLAXTING gether so that one piece stirs up the soil as it is dragged along the ground, the second reaches up to the yoke of the camels or cattle, and the third forms the handle of the plow, which is held by the man who drives the camels. Sometimes the plow is drawn by two camels or by two small oxen, and sometimes by a cow and a donkey.

When the ground has been broken up by the rude plow, it is usually divided into small square fields. That work is done by making little canals or trenches a few inches deep and about a foot wide between