Democratic Sentinel, Volume 2, Number 13, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 May 1878 — A Perpetual Carnival. [ARTICLE]

A Perpetual Carnival.

One of the greatest charms of Cairo, Egypt, is its street life, writes a correspondent It is thoroughly Oriental in character. It is a moving panorama of all nationalities, creeds, languages and costumes, with a strong preponderthe Oriental and semi- barbarous element. It is a perpetual carnival, which defies description. The boulevards of Paris, Regent street, and New York’s Broadway cannot compare with it. You may enjoy this spectacle quietly sitting on the veranda of Shepheard’s Hotel, but still better in the old town, especially the Muskee. The streets are alive with gaudily-dressed men and veiled women, water women, peddlers of all kinds of wares, braying donkeys, growling camels, barking dogs, horses and carriages—all jostling each other in endless confusion. In Muskee the crowd is so dense that it seems impossible to get through, and the noise so loud that you can not hear your own voice. Every carriage is preceded by oqe or more fleet

runners, crying to dear the way. The moeqnes are covered with carpets or rugs for kneeling and prostration, and a pulpit or reading-desk, but there are no seats. On entering a mosque you may wear your hat, bnt you must take off your shoes or put on dippers. Slippers or sandals of straw are always provided at the entrance of the mosques, and must be paid for. Women are seldom seen in the mosques. The Koran does not command them to pray, and some Mohammedan philosophers doubt whether women have souls. Yet they are necessary for the sensual bliss of Paradise, where the humblest believer is allowed 80,000 daves and seventy-two wives, besides those he had in this life, if he chooses to keep them. The pious Mohammedan is very devout, and performs his devotion five times a day.