DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.11715#0039
ALEXANDRIA TO CAIRO.
The suburbs of Cairo, and the surrounding district, are very interesting. Weeks may
be spent in visiting and revisiting the many points of attraction. In the environs are
charming villas, each standing in a garden, rich in all the products of a semi-tropical
country, and abundantly supplied with water. As we ramble in the outskirts of the city,
we often come upon an open space occupied as a fair. How like, and yet how unlike,
A WATEE-SELLEE.
an English fair! Swings and round-abouts are here, but dark-skinned, bright-eyed
Arab youngsters have taken the place of our young hopefuls. Yonder is a serpent-
charmer with necklace and girdle of snakes; before him are half-a-dozen puff-adders,
erect upon their tails, and waving to and fro with a rhythmic motion to the music of a
rude guitar. Near him sits a story-teller, reciting in guttural Arabic some interminable
35
♦
The suburbs of Cairo, and the surrounding district, are very interesting. Weeks may
be spent in visiting and revisiting the many points of attraction. In the environs are
charming villas, each standing in a garden, rich in all the products of a semi-tropical
country, and abundantly supplied with water. As we ramble in the outskirts of the city,
we often come upon an open space occupied as a fair. How like, and yet how unlike,
A WATEE-SELLEE.
an English fair! Swings and round-abouts are here, but dark-skinned, bright-eyed
Arab youngsters have taken the place of our young hopefuls. Yonder is a serpent-
charmer with necklace and girdle of snakes; before him are half-a-dozen puff-adders,
erect upon their tails, and waving to and fro with a rhythmic motion to the music of a
rude guitar. Near him sits a story-teller, reciting in guttural Arabic some interminable
35
♦