Chapter I: Front Matter

CARPENTER’S
WORLD TRAVELS

_Familiar Talks About Countries
and Peoples_

WITH THE AUTHOR ON THE SPOT AND
THE READER IN HIS HOME, BASED
ON THREE HUNDRED THOUSAND
MILES OF TRAVEL
OVER THE GLOBE

CAIRO TO KISUMU

EGYPT—THE SUDAN—KENYA COLONY

“The dam serves also as a bridge over the Nile. I crossed on a car, my motive power being two Arab boys who trotted behind.”]

_CARPENTER’S WORLD TRAVELS_

CAIRO TO KISUMU

_Egypt—The Sudan—Kenya
Colony_

BY
FRANK G. CARPENTER
LITT.D., F.R.G.S.

WITH 115 ILLUSTRATIONS
FROM ORIGINAL PHOTOGRAPHS
AND TWO MAPS IN COLOUR

GARDEN CITY NEW YORK
DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY
1923

COPYRIGHT, 1923, BY
FRANK G. CARPENTER
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, INCLUDING THAT OF TRANSLATION
INTO FOREIGN LANGUAGES, INCLUDING THE SCANDINAVIAN

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES
AT
THE COUNTRY LIFE PRESS, GARDEN CITY, N. Y.

_First Edition_

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

In the publication of this book on Egypt, the Sudan, and Kenya Colony, I wish to thank the Secretary of State for letters which have given me the assistance of the official representatives of our government in the countries visited. I thank also our Secretary of Agriculture and our Secretary of Labour for appointing me an Honorary Commissioner of their Departments in foreign lands. Their credentials have been of the greatest value, making available sources of information seldom open to the ordinary traveller. To the British authorities in the regions covered by these travels I desire to express my thanks for exceptional courtesies which have greatly aided my investigations.

I would also thank Mr. Dudley Harmon, my editor, and Miss Ellen McBryde Brown and Miss Josephine Lehmann for their assistance and coöperation in the revision of the notes dictated or penned by me on the ground.

While most of the illustrations are from my own negatives, these have been supplemented by photographs from the Publishers’ Photo Service and the American Geographic Society.

F. G. C.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I. JUST A WORD BEFORE WE START 1

II. THE GATEWAY TO EGYPT 3

III. KING COTTON ON THE NILE 13

IV. THROUGH OLD EGYPT TO CAIRO 22

V. FELLAHEEN ON THEIR FARMS 29

VI. THE PROPHET’S BIRTHDAY 41

VII. IN THE BAZAARS OF CAIRO 49

VIII. INTIMATE TALKS WITH TWO KHEDIVES 58

IX. EL-AZHAR AND ITS TEN THOUSAND MOSLEM STUDENTS 70

X. CLIMBING THE GREAT PYRAMID 79

XI. THE PYRAMIDS REVISITED 87

XII. FACE TO FACE WITH THE PHARAOHS 96

XIII. THE AMERICAN COLLEGE AT ASYUT 106

XIV. THE CHRISTIAN COPTS 112

XV. OLD THEBES AND THE VALLEY OF THE KINGS 117

XVI. THE NILE IN HARNESS 128

XVII. STEAMING THROUGH THE LAND OF CUSH 140

XVIII. FROM THE MEDITERRANEAN TO THE SUDAN 149

XIX. ACROSS AFRICA BY AIR AND RAIL 160

XX. KHARTUM 167

XXI. EMPIRE BUILDING IN THE SUDAN 175

XXII. WHY GENERAL GORDON HAD NO FEAR 181

XXIII. OMDURMAN, STRONGHOLD OF THE MAHDI 187

XXIV. GORDON COLLEGE AND THE WELLCOME LABORATORIES 200

XXV. THROUGH THE SUEZ CANAL 208

XXVI. DOWN THE RED SEA 218

XXVII. ALONG THE AFRICAN COAST 224

XXVIII. ADEN 229

XXIX. IN MOMBASA 236

XXX. THE UGANDA RAILWAY 243

XXXI. THE CAPITAL OF KENYA COLONY 252

XXXII. JOHN BULL IN EAST AFRICA 261

XXXIII. WITH THE BIG-GAME HUNTERS 269

XXXIV. AMONG THE KIKUYUS AND THE NANDI 277

XXXV. THE GREAT RIFT VALLEY AND THE MASAI 285

XXXVI. WHERE MEN GO NAKED AND WOMEN WEAR TAILS 293

SEE THE WORLD WITH CARPENTER 303

BIBLIOGRAPHY 305

INDEX 309

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

On the great Aswan Dam _Frontispiece_

FACING PAGE

The bead sellers of Cairo 2

The veiled women 3

On the cotton docks of Alexandria 6

Nubian girls selling fruit 7

Woman making woollen yarn 14

Fresh-cut sugar cane 15

One of the mill bridges 18

The ancient sakieh 19

The native ox 19

Water peddlers at the river 22

Women burden bearers 23

Threshing wheat with norag 30

A corn field in the delta 30

The pigeon towers 31

In the sugar market 38

Flat roofs and mosque towers of Cairo 39

Tent of the sacred carpet 46

The Alabaster Mosque 47

“Buy my lemonade!” 54

A street in old Cairo 55

Gates of the Abdin Palace 62

The essential kavass 63

In the palace conservatory 66

The famous Shepheard’s Hotel 67

Learning the Koran 67

Approaching El-Azhar 70

In the porticos of El-Azhar 71

The Pyramids 78

Mr. Carpenter climbing the Pyramids 79

Standing on the Sphinx’s neck 82

Taking it easy at Helouan 83

View of the Pyramids 86

Uncovering tombs of ancient kings 87

The alabaster Sphinx 94

The great museum at Cairo 95

Students at Asyut College 102

American College at Asyut 103

Between classes at the college 103

In the bazaars 110

A native school in an illiterate land 111

The greatest egoist of Egypt 118

The temple tomb of Hatshepsut 119

Sacred lake before the temple 119

The avenue of sphinxes 126

The dam is over a mile long 127

Lifting water from level to level 134

Where the fellaheen live 135

A Nubian pilot guides our ship 142

Pharaoh’s Bed half submerged 143

An aged warrior of the Bisharin 150

A mud village on the Nile 151

Where the Bisharin live 151

A safe place for babies 158

Mother and child 159

A bad landing place for aviators 162

Over the native villages 162

The first king of free Egypt 163

Soldiers guard the mails 166

An American locomotive in the Sudan 167

Light railways still are used 167

Along the river in Khartum 174

Where the Blue and the White Nile meet 175

The modern city of Khartum 175

A white negro of the Sudan 178

Where worshippers stand barefooted for hours 179

Grain awaiting shipment down river 182

“Backsheesh!” is the cry of the children 182

Cotton culture in the Sudan 183

The Sirdar’s palace 183

The bride and her husband 190

Omdurman, city of mud 191

Huts of the natives 191

A Shilouk warrior 198

In Gordon College 199

Teaching the boys manual arts 206

View of Gordon College 207

On the docks at Port Said 207

Fresh water in the desert 210

The entrance to the Suez Canal 211

A street in dreary Suez 226

Ships passing in the canal 227

Pilgrims at Mecca 230

Camel market in Aden 231

Harbour of Mombasa 238

Where the Hindus sell cotton prints 239

The merchants are mostly East Indians 239

A Swahili beauty 242

Passengers on the Uganda Railroad 243

An American bridge in East Africa 246

Native workers on the railway 246

Why the natives steal telephone wire 247

In Nairobi 254

The hotel 255

Jinrikisha boys 255

A native servant 258

Naivasha 259

The court for white and black 259

Motor trucks are coming in 262

How the natives live 263

Native taste in dress goods 266

The Kikuyus 266

Wealth is measured in cattle 267

Zebras are frequently seen 270

Even the lions are protected 271

Giraffes are plentiful 271

Elephant tusks for the ivory market 278

How the mothers carry babies 279

Mr. Carpenter in the elephant grass 286

Nandi warriors 287

Woman wearing a tail 290

How they stretch their ears 291

The witch doctor 298

Home of an official 299

The mud huts of the Masai 299

MAPS

Africa 34

From Cairo to Kisumu 50

CAIRO TO KISUMU

EGYPT—THE SUDAN—KENYA COLONY