CHAPTER VII IN THE BAZAARS OF CAIRO CAIRO is the biggest city in Africa. It is larger than St. Louis and one of the most cosmopoli¬ tan cities in the Orient. The Christians and the Mohammedans here come together, and the civilizations of the East and the West touch each other. The modem part of Cairo has put on the airs of European capitals. It has as wide streets as Paris, and a park, full of beautiful flowers and all varieties of shrubs and trees, lies in its very centre. Here every night the military bands play European and American airs, and veiled Mohamme¬ dan women walk about with white-faced French or Italian babies, of which they are the nurses. People from every part of the world listen to the music. The American jostles the Englishman while the German and the French¬ man scowl at each other; the Greek and the Italian move along side by side, as they did in the days when this coun¬ try was ruled by Rome, and now and then you see an old Turk in his turban and gown, or a Bedouin Arab, or a white-robed, fair-faced heathen from Tunis.

The European section of Cairo now has magnificent hotels. It is many a year since the foreign traveller in Egypt has had to eat with his fingers, or has seen a whole sheep served up to him by his Egyptian host as used to be the case. To-day the food is the same as that you get in Paris, and is served in the same way. One can buy any-49