Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - XV. Alexandria and its Monuments—The Egyptian “Fellahs”—The Mohammedans and Their Religion—The Voyage Through the Suez Canal—The Red Sea—The Indian Ocean—The Arrival at Calcutta
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
170,
Story of an Emigrant. 3 35
in my red fez I looked so much like him that when our
carriage passed through the gateway to the palace some of
the servants whispered to each other that Khedive
Ish-mael had returned, and when the coachman stopped at the
entrance I was surrounded bv a number of servants who
greeted me and evinced the greatest joy. The poor creatures
soon discovered their mistake. Their good friend the
khedive will never return to Egypt, for England and France
will not allow it. He was too sincere a friend of his own
people, and too independent in dealing with the
shareholders of the Suez canal built during his reign.
Alexandria has a population of two-hundred-fiftv
thousand. It was founded by Alexander thcGreat three hundred
vears before Christ, on account of the great natural
advantages of this place as a seaport. At the time of Christ it
had about half a million inhabitants. It was repeatedly
ravaged by destructive wars, and finally completely pillaged
by Caliph Omar, who is also said to have burnt its library,
the largest and most valuable collection of books of
antiquity, an act by which civilization suffered an irreparable
loss, the library containing the only copies of a number of
ancient literary works. It is claimed that the caliph gave
his generals the following characteristic answer, when asked
what was to be done with the library: "If it contains
anv-thing contrary to the Koran it is wrong; if it contains
atiy-th ing that agrees with the Koran it is superfluous;
therefore, at all events, it ought to be burnt. "
The most remarkable of the ancient monuments still
remaining in Alexandria is Pompey’s pillar, which is a
monolithic shaft of polished red granite, seventy-three feet high
and twenty-nine feet eight inches in circumference. One of
the most interesting objects of a more recent origin was the
Caf£ HI Paradiso. It consists of an immense restaurant and
concert hall, or rather halls, for there are many of them.
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
