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  Burkina Faso, blind man, guide                            Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe

EXCERPTS FROM COUNTRIES AND CULTURES OF THE WORLD, VOL. I,  Copyright 1997

[Excerpt, P. 27-35]

AFRICA

Africa has 30 million square kilometers (11.7 million square miles). It has some 880 million people. In 1975 it had 345 million people, an amazing increase of 155 percent in only 20 years! It has 20 percent of the Earth's land area and 11 percent of the Earth's people, but only 3 percent of the world's trade.

History. Before Europeans. Man is believed to have originated in East Africa at least three million years ago. Africa had the Egyptian and many other great civilizations long before Europeans arrived on the shores in the late 15th Century and explored the interior in the 19th Century. (See Ancient Civilizations.) People in the Kingdom of Kush, near Meroë, Nubia, modern Sudan, learned how to smelt their iron around 600 B.C. Their cities had many brick palaces and nearby pyramids, used for tombs. Ethiopians and Berbers of Northern Africa probably came from Asia. The Queen of Sheba is believed to have ruled an area in Yemen and Ethiopia at the time of Solomon, 950 B.C. Ethiopia's capital, Gondar, had a walled city with a castle and 10,000 families in the early 17th Century.

Several East African tribes were well organized and advanced so they cooperated to develop irrigation systems to have better crops. In addition to the Egyptians, they include the coffee-growing Chagga in northern Tanzania and the Luo on the eastern side of Lake Victoria.

Ancient Greeks wrote about the coast of Tanzania, which they called Azania. Arabs began trading with the coastal people by the 10th Century A.D. Cities were built on the east coast before the 14th Century. In Zimbabwe, a city, called Great Zimbabwe, established by Bantu around 1,000 A.D., had stone walls 10 m. (33 ft.) high. People lived there since the 4th Century A.D. It was apparently abandoned around 1700 for lack of salt. One great oval wall is more than 250 m. (820 ft.) around. The taller structures are probably tombs. Around 700 A.D. iron- working began. Other great stone cities were also built in Zimbabwe and Mozambique.

In West Africa, in Nigeria the Nok culture smelted iron in the 3rd Century B.C. In the north, the Islamic Huasa had developed cities before the 11th Century A.D. The Fulani cattle herders often moved into Huasa cities and converted to Islam. The Yoruba cities and kingdom of modern Nigeria began in the 11th Century.

The Kingdom of Ghana controlled a big area from the 8th to the 11th centuries. It was headquartered in modern Mauritania. They controlled trade with negroes and Berbers across the Sahara: salt and produce from West Africa for gold and produce from Sudan. Later, the Ashantis established a big kingdom. (See Ghana.) The Songhai Empire, headquartered in Timbuktu in the bend of the Niger River, controlled much of the trans-Sahara trade in the 14th to 16th centuries.

Benin City was the capital of a kingdom from the 13th to the 18th centuries. Portuguese reported around 1500 A.D. that it had craftsmen making bronze and brass statues and utensils. The city had high walls, a moat, and exported coral beads, blue cloth, pepper, and slaves. The king was treated as a god, he controlled a bureaucracy and an army. When the Portuguese arrived the king traded for rifles, and captured and sold more slaves from the interior, until there was no one left.

European slave traders were kept out of the interior of West Africa until late in the 19th Century, then slavery was illegal in most of Europe. Europeans traded with local people who captured the slaves. In East Africa Arabs controlled the slave trade and resisted Europeans who wanted to explore the interior. Arabs captured the slaves and brought them to traders on the coast.

In the 7th Century Arab horsemen brought the Moslem religion across North Africa. Most of the people were quickly converted, they were given a choice of converting, paying a stiff annual tax, or being killed.

European Explorers. Africa was called "the Dark Continent" until recently. Little was known about it. Brave explorers and missionaries told amazing stories about Africa, they whetted the desire of Europeans to know more. James Bruce, a Scotsman, explored much of the Upper (Blue) Nile in Ethiopia in the late 18th Century. He wrote books about his adventures, including the weeks he spent with a powerful king.

David Livingston, a Scottish physician and missionary, explored in southern Africa from 1841 until his death in 1873. He walked along the Zambesi River, discovered Victoria Falls, explored Lakes Nyasa and Tanganyika, crossed the continent from east to west, and to the southern tip. When Livingston was in poor condition and was badly treated by Arabs on the Upper Congo, a North American, Henry Stanley, found him there, on October 28, 1871. Stanley, a reporter for the New York Herald, then spent the next 16 years exploring Lakes Tanganyika and Victoria and the Congo River.

Richard Burton, Englishman, learned many languages as he explored Western Asia. He could disguise himself as a Moslem Arab, speaking Arabic fluently. He explored the Upper (White) Nile with John Speke, another Englishman, in the 19th Century. They found Lake Tanganyika, and rich Arabs living like kings in Tanzania. On a later trip Speke, with James Grant, explored the area around Lake Victoria. In Karagwe, west of Lake Victoria, one king they stayed with, Ruwanika, liked fat women. He required that they drink huge quantities of milk to become fatter. With the help of another king, Mutesa of Kabaka, Speke and Grant explored Lake Victoria in boats. On July 28, 1862 they found Ripon Waterfalls that flow out of Lake Victoria. Later, in London, they reported that they had found the source of the Nile. Richard Burton claimed that the Nile had another source. A debate was scheduled, Speke committed suicide shortly before their debate, in 1864.

Samuel Baker, a rich Englishman who had farmed in Ceylon (Sri Lanka), and his wife Florence, discovered Lake Albert in 1864. He resisted efforts of the king of Bunyoro that they trade wives, then a common custom in much of Africa.

Emin Pasa (Eduard Schnitzer), a German, explored the area between Lake Victoria and southeast to the coast of the Indian Ocean, and north to Lake Albert and down the White Nile, 1876 to 1892. He made detailed records of what he saw: people, animals, plants, insects, birds, and more. He spent a few years developing a "home" near Lake Albert, until Henry Stanley came to "rescue" him. They headed southeast together to the coast. Stanley found in 1976 that the only outlet of Lake Victoria is Ripon Falls, the stream flows into and out of Lake Albert. He found the source of the (White) Nile, the Luvironza River in Burundi, which flows into the Ruvera and Kagera rivers, and Lake Victoria. His party on the Lady Alice sailboat were attacked by cannibals nearly every day. It required almost another year to go down the Congo to a Portuguese settlement.

Independence. After World War II a strong movement for independence from European colonial powers (France, Britain, Portugal, and Netherlands) developed in most African countries. In the 1950s Ghana, Guinea, Libya, Morocco, Sudan, and Tunisia became independent. South Africa had been somewhat independent since 1910. Most African countries won independence in the 1960s. The remaining countries, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bisseau, Mozambique, Sao Tomé, and the Seychelles Islands, became independent in the 1970s. Spain still has a tiny area, Cueta, near Morocco.

BACKGROUND. The northern tier of countries in North Africa are Islamic. Mauritania, Mali, and Niger in the next tier are 80 percent or more Muslim, while Chad is 50 percent Muslim. Chad's Arab Muslims in the north, with help from Libya, has fought animistic or Christian southerners. France helps the animists. They worship spiritualism in nature. Sudan, the remaining country in the 2nd northern tier, is 70 percent Muslim. Sudan has had a civil war since 1988, the Arab north tries to prevent the southern animistic or Christian Blacks from becoming independent. In the 3rd tier from the north, Senegal and Somalia are 80 percent or more Muslim. Burkina Faso and Nigeria are 50 percent Muslim. The other countries in the 3rd tier from the north, and almost all of the rest of rest of Africa, are primarily animistic. Christians represent half or more of the people in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Namibia, and Botswana, and a fourth or more in Ghana, Cameroun, and Ethiopia. Most of the Africans in the forested half of the continent are animistic. They have many fetishes, and carved masks decorated with feathers, representing supernatural figures, often unseen. However, many animists believe in a Creator of everything, and that man must live in harmony with nature and the supernatural. Christianity is looked upon as a European religion, it was less popular when European colonialism was unpopular. A generation or two has grown up in Africa since their country was controlled by a colonial power, it no longer seems so bad. Many old-timers remember with nostalgia when they worked for a White, they then had a place to live and enough to eat.

Other wars in Africa in the 1990s, in addition to Chad and Sudan, include a civil war in Algeria, where fundamentalist Moslems are trying to take over. Fundamentalists have also killed many in Egypt and Libya. Morocco is attempting to take over Western Sahara. The Polisario guerrillas, aided by Algeria, resist it. Also in the northwest, Mauritania fought a border war with Senegal. Liberia, which was formed by slaves returning from the U.S.A. in the 19th Century, has fought a civil war since December 1989. Niger fought a rebellion in the north in 1994. It ended when the area was granted considerable autonomy. In Nigeria the civil war by Ibos ended in 1970 but the military government continues to execute its opponents. Fraud is said to be rampant. Eritrea was recognized by Ethiopia as an independent country in 1993, after more than 17 years of war. Somalia's civil war began in 1988, United Nations troops arrived to stop the fighting but they left in 1995, leaving the mess to the warlords.

In Rwanda a civil war ended in 1993, between the majority Hutu government and the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), of the tall Tutsi minority tribe. In April 1994 the Hutu presidents of Rwanda and neighboring Burundi were killed in a mysterious plane crash. Hutus believed the Tutsis caused the crash, and Hutus killed hundreds of thousands of Tutsis in Rwanda. The RPF retaliated, and Hutus fled to Zaire and Tanzania.

In Burundi a Hutu government was elected in 1993 for the first time but its president was killed a few months later in a coup attempt by the minority Tutsis. Violence broke out, many thousands were killed. In 1994 the new Hutu president was killed in the mysterious plane crash, along with Rwanda's Hutu president. Violence broke out with many thousands killed in Burundi, but far more in Rwanda. A Tutsi general led a coup, taking over the government in 1996. Other governments have not recognized the new government.

In the south, Mozambique fought a civil war with guerrillas, the MNR, backed by South Africa, from 1976 to 1992. In Angola the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) government, with the help of Cuban troops backed by the Soviet Union, was attacked by the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) troops backed by the U.S.A. Fighting ended at the end of 1991, in elections the next year the MPLA won, but UNITA again fought a civil war. In 1995 both sides stopped fighting, jointly asked for massive international aid, and to clear the country of millions of land mines. In Namibia (formerly called South-West Africa), South Africa had a protectorate since 1915. In 1966 the South-West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO) began a war for independence. Cuban and Angolan troops fought government troops backed by South Africa. Cuban troops left by 1990, fighting ended, SWAPO won elections, and Namibia became independent.

Many African countries spend a large portion of their annual budget on the army. The ruler learns quickly to be generous with the army, in salary, uniforms, and equipment. The ruler often was an army officer, who took over the government in a coup d'état. The army is used as an internal peace force to intimidate opponents of the ruler. Money for health and education comes after the army.

Many African men find a woman's legs above the knee to be sexier than bare breasts. Women tourists in most of Africa, outside of tourist areas, should cover legs from the knee above. The Islamic countries of North Africa are even more conservative, a woman tourist there should cover the shoulders and arms, even the hair in mosques. Men should not wear shorts in mosques.

The Sahara, world's largest desert, is some 1600 km. north to south and 4800 km. (976 & 2,928 mi.) east to west. In borderline areas of the Sahara and the Sahel (the semiarid area south of the Sahara) Moslems are converting people much faster than are Christians. Dioulas are Arab traders, they are usually Moslems who help to convert poorer people they deal with. The Islamic Fulani or Peul shepherds may care for an animistic neighbor's cattle, marrying a daughter. Moslems are often members of a respected group in the community, and animistic people want to be a member of a respected group.

Black Africans often like music and have a natural rhythm. The Mossi of Burkina Faso and Mali are one of many tribes who like music. Members of many tribes sing much of the time. They are also great dancers. Men in most tribes danced a war dance before a battle to whip up their courage. Other traditional dances include to celebrate a wedding, the birth of a son, the circumcision of boys (and sometimes girls) age 12 to 14, the planting and the harvest of crops, and dances for hunters, fishermen, and national holidays.

Many Africans suffer and die from diseases. AIDs (SIDA) has killed several million in Black Africa, especially along the roads that go between Senegal on the Atlantic to Kenya and Tanzania on the Atlantic. Truck-drivers and prostitutes are said to spread the disease rapidly. It is said to have started in Rwanda or Uganda, west of Lake Victoria. More than a million Africans are believed to die each year from malaria. In a drought, plague by locusts, or war hundreds of thousands of Africans may die, almost ignored by the rest of the world. Malnutrition caused by not enough of the right kind of foods, and dysentery, caused by impure water or food, cause much suffering and the death of hundreds of thousands yearly. Like malaria, it also saps the energy, making the people "lazy."

Many African men have several "wives." Moslems in many Islamic countries are permitted to have up to four wives at a time, but divorce is usually simple if a man wants to substitute a new wife. In animistic Black Africa a rich man may have hundreds of wives. The "bride price" is almost nothing in parts of Africa. In other areas a bride may cost 10 or more cattle. Many young men may have to postpone marriage until age 30 or so to save money to buy a bride. In many tribes the woman is expected to bring a dowry. Missionaries have criticized the system in some countries where the wife costs very little, it leads to adultery by both man and woman and easy breakup of a family. African men often want to have many children, especially sons, to continue the family. A man with dozens of children is head of a large group, an "important man." While most women surely dislike polygamy, some prefer it. If a woman doesn't feel well, and needs someone to look after her children, or to help with the planting, hoeing, watering, or laundry, or gathering wood or carrying water, another wife may help. In a few tribes the wives live together, but in most tribes each wife has her own hut, granary, and garden plot. It reduces quarreling among wives.

In the past men were hunters, bringing home meat. Hunting is now illegal in much of Africa, especially in game preserves or parks. Men were also warriors for the tribe. Now fighting is usually unlawful unless done in the armed forces or police of the country. Men have less to do. However, in many tribes the men refuse to do farming.   That is woman's work. Agricultural production is low because work is done by hand, often without an, ox or horse. Weeds  compete with planted crops. The same crop may be planted in the same place year, depleting , the soil. The seed is often of poor quality....            

The wife or wives prepare the food and cook. Men usually eat alone, then the women and children eat. In many tribes each person takes some food and eats alone. Silverware is not used except by the rich in cities , or for soups. Villagers eat with their hands and fingers.

Boys are much more likely than girls to go to school, or to remain several years in school. The British taught many African men to value the prestige of an academic education and white collar work. However, Africa often needs skilled people who work with their hands more than another clerical worker. Many Africans are great wood carvers and artists. Others seem to have a knack for mechanical work, but they need more training. Critics have said "there is too much instruction, and not enough education." Education in basic nutrition, public health, and the prevention of diseases is badly needed. Free public schools are still rare in Africa, especially in rural areas. Many churches, and groups such as the Peace Corps of the U.S.A., have operated schools for many years. The French and Portuguese as colonists are said to have ignored the Africans. Men often do not want an educated wife, they fear that she will be too independent and won't want to work, and that the bride price will be too high, to pay for the cost of her education. In the tribes that herd cattle a man's wealth is usually in cattle and wives. The more of each that he has, the wealthier he is. Wealth brings status and prestige.

The tribe is important, a little nation. The people share a common language, culture, and way of life. European colonists have split the territory historically claimed by a tribe. In elections each person tends to vote as leaders of his/her tribe directs. In rural villages each person knows his/her place. There is security, so long as there is enough to eat. The educated young may feel too restricted and escape to the city. Starving rural people also crowd the cities. Wars drive villagers to the better-protected cities. The tribe often owns all of the land surrounding the village. Garden plots are assigned, perhaps depending upon the number of mouths to feed. "Ownership" of land by an individual, as followed in the Western countries, is almost unheard of.

The population in most of Africa grows much faster than the food, water, and wood supplies. As the population shoots upward, the average amount of food per person drops. In a good year a high percentage of the people suffer from malnutrition. If there is a drought or a storm, a plague by locusts or other insects worse than usual, a government crisis, or a war, many starve. Women and girls must go farther and farther from the village to find firewood to cook the food. Some foreign aid groups, such as Earthwatch, are teaching people how to build and use a reflector oven for less than 20 dollars. Since most of Africa has much sunshine, it will cook the food free, without making smoke that causes lung problems and irritates the eyes. Much of Africa has a scarcity of water in a good year. Women and girls spend hours each day getting the three or four liters of water for each family member each day. Livestock often die of thirst. Cattle, sheep, and goats eat every blade or stem of a plant that dares show itself above the surface. Tribes of animal herders quickly turn a semi-dry area in the Sahel (the area south of the Sahara), for example, into a desert. Their animals leave devastation behind. They are helping the Sahara to expand.

The educational system is unable to educate the millions of babies born each year. When families or individuals move into the cities they find that housing is very tight. They build a shack of plastic and cardboard, drink polluted water, urinate and defecate anyplace, and try to find work. There are usually no jobs available. The lucky ones will sell things on the streets. Others will turn to burglary or violence, or protest against the incumbent government. Women turn to prostitution.

Men, and women in some tribes, drink too much alcohol. Africans, like people everywhere, have learned to ferment almost any fruit or juice to make alcohol. In villages and in cities there is much drunkenness. Strong drugs that are illegal in the West are often widely accepted in Africa. One advantage of the Moslem religion is that it prohibits or discourages the use of alcohol or strong drugs.

Some tribes feel and act superior to others. They "know" they will win a game or do better than others finanacially or in school. Men and women in some tribes have wonderful posture, walking, standing or sitting erect. Carrying things on the head regularly helps to give many Africans, especially the women, wonderful posture and bearing. Some tribes value cleanliness and wear beautiful clothes.

In East Africa the "Indians" or other Asians, either Muslims or Hindus, are the business people in towns and cities, as Chinese are in southeastern Asia, and Jews are in Eastern Europe and other areas. They often work harder than Blacks but they are quiet and not active in politics. In North Africa, Moslems are usually more active in business than animistic peoples or Christians.

Many African countries have only one political party. It is the party that led the drive for independence. Opposition parties are rarely tolerated. Since the fall of the Berlin Wall late in 1989, at least 10 African countries now tolerate an opposition party. It has been the custom for a "strong man" to run the country, a virtual dictator. That leader or party usually comes from the largest tribe in the country. Members of other tribes find that good jobs and positions, especially in the government, are few. The first wave of leaders, once popular for ending colonialism, are mostly gone. Black leaders exploit the people more than the White colonials did. Dictators learn to pay the army well and to be friends with the generals, to help keep the dictator in office. In some countries the military, frustrated by the incompetence of the leader, has taken over the government.

Credit from international agencies was easy to get until the last 10 years. Some rulers have wasted much money on building a big project, such as a huge church, mosque, dam, convention center, government buildings, or housing project that benefits only a few. Now the nation has a big national debt and cannot even keep up with interest payments. Exports that earn foreign money are almost entirely raw materials--minerals, lumber, fruits, or vegetables, and there is tough competition from other suppliers.

Most of the former British colonies have remained a member of the British commonwealth, to tie their money to the British pound for better accep-tance, to sell their exports in Britain, and to get visas for education and work in Britain. Likewise, most of the former French colonies tie their currency to the French franc so the currency is better accepted. Early in 1994 France shocked West Africans by devaluing their CFA, which had been closely tied to the French franc. France buys some of their products, such as bananas, paying a higher price than they could pay to Central America, for example. Citizens of former colonies can also visit France more easily than can legal strangers. However, France has sent some unwanted Blacks back to Africa. African countries need capital--money for developement. The former colonial power may be the only source of investment money. Some former colonies have associated with the European Union, to get favorable treatment.

The Organization of African Unity (OAU), with 53 members, and headquarters in Ethiopia, meets each year, to promote peace, security, unity and cooperation. The African Developement Bank is supported by the United Nations.

Africa needs better farm to market roads, better education (trained teachers, instruction materials, and basic schools), training in basic health, prevention, family planning, vocational training, better electric power distribution and telephone systems, small loans for better seeds and fertilizers plus instruction in better farming methods. Africa needs a north to south highway, and to build railroads to connect existing railways, so that passengers could go from Alexandria to Cape Town. New hotels and restaurants would be needed. Africa has great potential to attract more tourists. It has much variety, there is much to see.

Cattle herders must be taught to limit the size of their herds. Millions of trees must be planted and protected. It is cheaper to make villages more attractive so people will stay, than to support a group of immigrants in cities. In cities pure water, including faucets, sites for housing, small loans and help in building cheap alternative housing, regular garbage collection, and cheap electricity, are needed. Cottage industries, as in poorer countries of Asia, can be developed. Of course, all of the above efforts are wasted if there is fighting between groups. Wars make it impossible to improve the standard of living. Stable and fair governments are necessary.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________----

 COUNTRIES and CULTURES of the WORLD, THEN and NOW
by Wesley M. Wilson, B.S., M.B.A., J.D.

Each book is paperback, 6 X 9 inches (15 X 22.5 cm), printed in 1997 by Professional Press, Chapel Hill, NC 27515-4371
NEW LOW PRICE $18 per volume, or $42 for all 3 volumes + $2 per vol. P and H in USA

• Vol. I--Ancient Civilizations, Africa, Asia, Problems and Solutions, Travel Hints, ISBN # 57087-302-X, 427 pages plus 84 black and white photographs, with captions

• Vol. II--The Pacific, Former Soviet Union, Europe, ISBN # 57087-303-8, 410 pages plus 100 black and white photographs, with captions

• Vol. III--South, Central, and North America, The Caribbean, Index for Vol. I, II, III, ISBN # 57087-304-6, 444 pages plus 56 black and white photographs, with captions

• To order books: from Professional Press, P.O. Box 4371, Chapel Hill, NC 27515-4371, checks or major credit cards OK, Tel. 1-800-277-8960, FAX (919) 942-3094, M-F 9:00 to 5:00 

• From the author, checks only, e-mail, weswilson@highstream.net 

• Or any bookstore [Ingram].

Have you visited London, Paris, Berlin, Venice, Rome, or Athens? Or Bangkok, Tokyo, Bejing, or Sydney? Perhaps Buenos Aires, Lima, or Rio? Did you write a daily journal? The author describes what you probably saw on a city tour in each of those cities. He also takes us on a tour to more than 250 other cities around the world.

Do you remember details of the history of the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, the former Soviet Union, Greece, Egypt, China, Japan, India, Israel, Canada, Mexico, the USA, Central America, South America, and Africa? The author describes the history of each of more than 120 countries in a highly readable summary of one to 10 pages each.
The size, population, number of people for each square kilometer of arable land, imports, exports, economics, politics, educational and health systems, food, and cultures are analyzed. The author then takes us through each country, describing the cities, archaeological ruins, and other tourist sites. We take a city tour of the major cities of the world.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

COUNTRIES and CULTURES of the WORLD, THEN and NOW, 

VOL. I 

by Wesley M. Wilson, B.S., M.B.A., J.D.

ISBN # 57087-302-X, 427 pages plus 84 black and white photographs, with captions, 6X 9 inches (15 X 22.5 cm)
NEW LOW PRICE $18 per volume, or $42 for all 3 volumes + $2 per vol. P and H in USA

This volume will help the reader to understand the ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS built by our ancestors all over the world. It outlines the origins of the MAJOR RELIGIONS, and how religions are practiced today.

                                           Volume I cover                               Masai girls in Kenya                          

The author takes us through many countries in AFRICA, first telling us something about their history. We begin in Egypt, then move west across North Africa, as the Moslems did more than 12 centuries ago. We ride camels in the Sahara. The Wilsons joined a small group of young Europeans, traveling in a 4-wheel drive truck across West Africa, where their fluent French is helpful. They slept in pup tents and cooked their food over camp fires. We follow them on several safaris in eastern and southern Africa, sleeping in pup tents. We visit many villages and cities to learn how the people live today. We finish our African journey in South Africa. We look at Apartheid as it was and guess at South Africa's future. The author analyzes the economies of Africa and compares them with Asian countries.

The author then takes us for a long trip across ASIA. We begin in Japan, cross over to Korea, and look at much of China's fascinating culture. In Vietnam we hear more about their wars and what impact they have today. In Cambodia we visit Angkor Wat, then we go into the hill country of Laos. We visit fascinating villages along the Mekong River. We learn more about huge Indonesia, then go up the Malay Peninsula to Thailand. We learn why it is such a popular tourist destination. We look at each of the countries that surround India, and look at the great variety in that crowded country. We go to the Persian Gulf, then to Israel. Why is the crowded little desert country such a powder keg? The author has traveled in much of Israel, Gaza, and the Golan Heights, plus nearby Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria. We learn what to expect in the future, any why. We look at most of Asia's important tourist sights. We examine many cultures and learn how they differ so much from cultures in North America and Europe.

This volume ends with author's observations of major problems in the world and in the U.S., and what we can do to help solve them. We learn how the population explosion in this century has caused many problems and magnified other problems.

Guatemala, Tikal temple  Click for larger picture                    South Africa, white rhino

                                        A FEW ANECDOTES, COUNTRIES AND CULTURES OF THE WORLD, SUMMARY

In Cairo we visited the zoo. The first caged animal we saw was a “Siamese Cat.” In the next cage, called “Domestic Cat,” an alley tomcat, scarred from many battles, had traded his freedom for regular feeding and security.

In Togo we visited the voodoo market near the capital, Lomé. Voodoo is believed to have started with the Ewé tribe there. There were some 30 large tables, each with a shaman vendor. There were skins and bones of animals and snakes, feathers and other parts of birds, various plants, cowry and other shells, stones, dolls, and statues. A stick is used for virility, 2 round flat stones is for memory for adults and intelligence for children. 2 small white cowry shells on a stick are for poisoning an enemy. Obi or Obeah is the goddess of evil in the black magic cult. An Obeahman may use any of many fetishes to get rid of a spell. They include blood, an alligator’s tooth, parrot’s beak, eggshells, dirt taken from a cemetery, or balls of clay with feathers and a cord. Local people believe there are many supernatural forces that may cause harm, including spirits of ancestors. They are said to be created by Mahou, the supreme being. A shaman is said to communicate with the great spirits, such as Dan, Egou, and Hébiesso.

Travelers in many countries have to be wary because of crime. In Morocco one man in our group of five often walked a hundred feet behind the rest of us, peeling an orange, apparently oblivious to everything else. A youth grabbed his wallet and ran away. The man shouted. Our elderly local guide Mohammed shouted a few words in Arabic. Men came from all directions to chase the robber. Two blocks away they caught him. When we arrived, several men were beating and kicking the robber. Our guide asked the name of the youth’s village, the name of his father, and how long had he been in Tangier. The youth mumbled answers. Mohammed then permitted the youth to limp away. I asked Mohammed why he didn’t call the police and have the youth taken to jail. “Our way is better,” he said. “That boy won’t steal anymore.”

Kenya. On safaris guides told animal stories around the campfire.: 

• A cook slept in the tent with the fresh fruit. An elephant, wanting the fruit, picked up the tent and its contents, running and shaking it. After 50 meters the tent zipper broke, the cook fell out and ran away, the elephant ate the fruit.

•  Two Japanese male tourists rented a four-wheel drive vehicle to see an isolated part of Masai Mara. They got stuck in a mud-hole. One finally left to defecate behind nearby bushes. He didn't return, but the other, afraid of predators, did not go search for him. After two hours game preserve guards, who protect animals from poachers, investigated the vehicle. The driver asked them to look for his friend on the other side of the bushes. They found him, dead, half digested by a big python.
•  A zebra was drinking at a waterhole. A lion grabbed its rear end at the same time as a crocodile grabbed its head. They tugged and pulled. The big croc slapped the lion hard with its tail, stunning the lion so it released the zebra. But there was another lion. It bit a big piece out of the croc, killing it.
•  A minivan got stuck in a mud-hole where they stopped to watch three lions to the right of the vehicle. Our guide-driver volunteered to fasten a rope to his minivan to pull them out. He began to carefully tie the rope to his rear bumper while watching the sleeping lions 15 meters away. The male woke up, leaped for the driver, who leaped inside his open left-front door. As he closed it the lion hit the door, hard.
•  A traveling salesman on the Nairobi to Mombasa route (on the coast) regularly stopped for a snack at a country restaurant where a troop of baboons lived and begged for food. He gave them two sandwiches, after first putting spicy red peppers inside. As they suffered and ran for water he laughed. A few weeks later the man stopped at the same highway stop, with his wife and two children. The baboons recognized the man, formed a circle around him, and began to bite him with their sharp teeth. Soon he was dead. The baboons ignored the others.
  A baboon grabbed the baby of a young family on a picnic, and carried the baby up a tree. A crowd soon formed. People debated about whether to shoot the baboon and catch the baby as it fell. The wiser young father set out a big plate of tasty fresh fruit and ordered everyone to back away. The baboon came down to eat the fruit, and the father grabbed the baby, unharmed.

Swaziland. A swarm of bees attacked motorists, with windows rolled down on a warm day, on the main highway. Trucks jackknifed. Police tried to clear the traffic jam but the bees attacked them. Several small boys, armed with limbs broken from trees, attacked the bees, rescuing the police, who finally cleared the traffic jam.

In China, when Chou Enlai, Mao, and others stayed in Red Crag Village, Chongking, late in 1945, to try to negotiate an end to hostilities and avoid a civil war with Chiang Kai Shek, Chou Enlai listed in his room his work rules: (1) do my best, (2) work hard, (3) take advantage of every negotiating opportunity, (4) control myself, and (5) keep healthy and exercise every day.

The Shanghai Mansions was one of the four hotels I stayed in during several visits to Shanghai. Madam Mao, leader of the “Gang of Four,” often stayed there. She complained that it was too noisy, so she ordered that all vessels on the Grand Canal entering the river there, be stopped during her hours of sleep. Barge traffic was blocked for nearly 100 miles.

Taiwan. In Taipei we took a taxi to the National Museum of History. As we approached, several thousand girls in skimpy uniforms ended their marching practice for “Double 10 Day,” Oct. 10. Many girls looked for a taxi. Our driver said “your museum is over there, only three blocks away,” as he picked up a load of the girls.

Vietnam. My guide in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) was a schoolteacher in Saigon when the war started. He said:
"I was single. I had a moto and lots of girlfriends. Why should I get involved in the war? The Americans were willing to do the fighting for us."
After the South lost the war he suffered. He was "rehabilitated" by serving 10 years as a teacher to the isolated tribes in the mountains of North Vietnam. Saigon and the Mekong Delta farmers of the south were rich before the war, they also had a good life, and didn't want to be bothered by fighting in the war. They said the Americans could do the fighting.

Near Siem Reap, Cambodia, my guide was the first official to discover that two [valuable ancient] heads had been stolen, probably by Khymer Rouge, during the night. They will be replaced, as time and money permits, by rough heads of concrete. She said that the Khymer Rouge tried to stop the elections in May 1993. They came to her town, Siem Reap, and burned several of the homes of her poor neighbors, all farmers. When they came to her house she said she would give them her bicycle and all of her money, about three dollars US, if they would not burn her home. They took it and saved her home. A week or so later they returned to her town. She had nothing more to give, so she ran to the river and hid. She saw smoke rising from several homes. After awhile she returned, and was delighted to see that her home was not burned.

Malaysia. In the Taman Negara (National Park) our guide persuaded us to go through the Taveling or “Eel” Cave. At first we walked on bat dung, then we crouched, then we had to crawl on the belly. When we got out, 100 yards away at the far end, our guide asked “Did you see the python? A 10 meter (23 ft.) python lives there. But it ate a wild boar a week ago and I didn’t thing it would bother you.” We resolved not to give that guide a tip.

On my first of eight trips to Thailand a monkey in a coconut tree grabbed my white hat. He couldn’t steal it, since it was tied under my chin. He only half- choked me. I thought about trying the roast monkey for lunch. At least it didn’t make a monkey of me. [p. 318]

Burma (Myanmar): In the Rangoon (Yangoon) zoo a girl kisses a cobra every Sunday. I believe they get a new girl each week.

Bangladesh. In my Dhaka hotel I had the choice of the “American” breakfast, with fried kidney, or the “English” breakfast, with fried eggs and bacon. I chose the English breakfast. One evening I saw tandoori Nyaung-Do near Bagan (Pagan), chicken on the menu, one of my favorites. However, it was only skin and bones, like the people.

Riding in a taxi in Lesser-Developed countries is often risky. Sometimes you take your life in your hands.
On the paved 2-lane highway in Bangladesh vehicles regularly squeezed in three lanes. When a big truck flashes its lights at another vehicle, that driver has two choices: to move out of the way, or to die. An old bus lost the game of chicken, rolled down the 10-ft. high bank, and lay on its side in a rice field. Passengers crawled out of the windows into water more than two feet deep. Some of the 20 or 30 passengers who had been riding on the roof jumped, but many were killed--an everyday occurrence.
Nepal. After a week we became well acquainted with our waiter, a youth of 18. We asked him what work can men do in Katmandu if they grew up in a mountain village, far from a school or a road? His reply was immediate: “They drive a taxi.”
Burkina Faso. In Ouagadougou, the capital, our small group took taxis in the evening to eat and to hear the nuns sing Ave Maria and a few other songs. Our driver stopped to buy one liter of gasoline. He then drove in the dark, going through two stop signs and all three red lights in the city. He drove on the wrong side of the street, cutting back just in time to avoid a head-on collision. The middle-age English lady in our group kept saying “Oh my God! Oh my God!”

Sri Lanka. My wife and I stayed a week in a small hotel on the beach. It was perhaps 10 years old but maintenance was poor. It never had more than 6 guests in the 12 rooms. We found a room where the plumbing almost worked, we borrowed 2 lamps from another room, and draperies from still another room. Water was usually on several hours a day. A gecko ate some of the mosquitoes but sometimes made loud noises at night. I never knew whether it was a mating call or gloating over having eaten an especially tasty insect. Lights went out frequently, the back up generator didn’t work. We had candles, matches, and flashlights. The cook had a helper, the yardman picked up coconut limbs that often fell, and raked the yard. The waitress also cleaned rooms. The manager, an executive, only supervised everyone and talked with guests. It was beneath the dignity of an educated man to do any physical work, such as maintenance.

On one of our trips to India my wife worked for two months as a volunteer physician in a hospital in Agra, near the Taj Mahal. I stayed in India a few weeks, traveling to nearby places. We ate meals in a hotel restaurant two miles away, often choosing Chinese food. Much of India’s food is too spicy. We often ate chop suey. Once I tried the chicken chop suey. The only difference--a hard-boiled egg was on top. At least it got close to a chicken.

Near the room where my wife and I stayed at the hospital, plumbing was not hooked up quite right in the community bathroom. The shower and sink had only cold water, but the toilet flushed with hot water.

My wife, trained in preventive medicine, proposed to the other doctors that a muddy pond half a mile from the hospital, be drained. Mosquitoes carrying malaria were breeding there. I got malaria, even though I took Mefloqin™ as prescribed. The Indian doctors said the local farmers must have the pond to wash their buffalo. We wouldn’t close a car wash because of mosquitoes, would we?

In a bazaar in Agra I bought a pretty red bar of “toilet soap.” It was rough on the skin, but it could be used as sandpaper. It would also be good for cleaning toilets.

In India’s south, Madras area, local women wear strings of jasmine in the hair to attract a man. They consider drumsticks to be an aphrodisiac. They chew paan, also considered to be an aphrodisiac. It is a mixture of betel nuts, cloves, and cardamom.

Pakistan My wife worked as a volunteer physician near Peshawar, Northwest Territory, in a big camp for Afghanistan refugees, near the border. I traveled in the area a few weeks, visiting the Swat Valley that Kipling liked so well, plus ancient cities near the Indus River, and Karachi. The refugee camp’s American electrician had a tough time figuring out why the compound’s telephones went out every day around mid-morning. By late afternoon the trouble was gone. The phone wires went through the refugee camp. He finally learned that women washed blankets early and hung them out to dry on the nearest line--the phone lines. In the warm dry air blankets dried in a few hours, then they no longer grounded out the phones.

In the same refugee camp my wife needed to quickly see again a patient, one of 25,000 men in the camp. She knew only his name, no other address. Her local translator said “That’s easy. Just have the mullah call out his name on loudspeakers during evening prayers.”

Excerpt, Countries and Cultures, Vol. I, Africa, P. 35-51]

Population 64 million (2.0 % per year natural increase); area 1 million sq. km. (386,000 sq. mi.); GDP $152 billion; average income $2490; literacy rate 48%

HISTORY. (See Ancient Civilizations.) Persians captured Egypt in 619, defeating the Romans and Byzantines. Arabs following Mohammed captured Cairo and Egypt a few years later, founding Old Cairo. The Fatamids, a sect of Shiites, ruled Egypt from 969 to 1171. They believed that the Umayyad Dynasty of Damascus, and other Sunnis, had wrongfully taken control of Islam from descendants of Ali, Mohammed's cousin. The Fatamids had many followers all across North Africa, to Morocco. However, the Seljik Turks supported traditional Sunni Islam. Their allies the Ayyubids ruled Egypt from 1171 to 1250. They built madrasas, used as religious schools. The Mamluk Dynasty ruled Egypt from 1250 to 1517. Mamluks speaking Turkish, not Arabic, brought in foreign slave boys, educated them, and they formed the bureaucracy of the Mamluks. The Mamluks drove Crusaders out of the area, then defeated the Mongols in Palestine in 1260. Mamluks were great traders and tax collectors. Mamluks continued to collect taxes but Egypt was almost independent from 1517 until Napoleon's invasion.

In 1798 Napoleon brought a French army that easily defeated the militaristic Mamluks. The French explored Egypt and its many great ruins, they studied the customs, the irrigation system, and published their findings. The British destroyed the French navy, Napoleon returned to France, and the British permitted the other French to leave in 1801.

Mohammed Ali became viceroy of Egypt in 1805. He brought in French to build and train a modern Egyptian army and navy. He brought in more Europeans to build universities and educate Egyptians, and to build textile and other factories. Egypt fought the Ottomans of Turkey, but Britain, Austria, and Russia stopped the fighting. More Europeans came to trade in Egypt. A later viceroy, Said Pasha, brought in French under Ferdinand de Lessups to build a Suez Canal. It was completed in 1869. Ismail Pasha again tried to modernize Egypt, copying Europeans. He brought Egypt deep into debt and pledged Egypt's assets, such as future taxes and revenues, as collateral for loans. He sold the Suez Canal Company to Great Britain in 1875 for only 20 million dollars, about 22 percent of the cost of building it.

Jamal al-Din al-Afghani organized Moslems to resist foreigners in Egypt and elsewhere. In 1882 British troops arrived "to protect the canal," but they soon occupied all of Egypt. Britain's Lord Cromer, as consul general, pushed irrigation and agriculture, increasing sales of cotton, paying Egypt's big debt. However, big estates were encouraged, and small farmers or fellahin became farm laborers. When World War I began in 1914 Britain took over Egypt as a colony, ousting the remaining Turks. Britain also organized fellahin to fight Turkey in the Middle East. Wartime inflation hurt Egypt and many other countries. After the war, in 1919 Egyptians wanted independence. Britain granted it on February 28, 1922, and made the sultan, Ahmed Faud, king. Britain retained the Suez Canal.

The Muslim Brotherhood was established as a political party but the king did not permit the party or parliament to be effective. In World War II Germany and Italy occupied part of Egypt but Britain, with help of the U.S.A., chased them out. In 1948 and 1949 Egypt and other Arab countries were unable to defeat the new country of Israel. (See Israel.) On July 23, 1952 the military deposed King Farouk and took over the government. General Naguib was the figurehead ruler, who tried to acquire more power. In 1954 the real organizer of the coup, Col. Nasser, ousted Naguib and took control. Nasser ordered that the Muslim Brotherhood, a rival of the military, be dissolved. Nasser limited the size of land holdings to 80 hectares (198 acres) and redistributed big estates to fellahin.

Great Britain, the World Bank, and the U.S.A. agreed to loan money to Egypt to build the huge Aswan Dam. The U.S.A. secretary of State, John Foster Dulles, cancelled the agreement when he learned that Egypt had reached an agreement with Czechoslovakia to buy weapons from the then-communist country. Britain and the World Bank also pulled out. Britain agreed to and did remove its troops from the Suez Canal by June 1956. Nasser announced the next month that Egypt would nationalize the canal. Egypt threatened to attack Israel and closed the Suez Canal to Israeli ships. In October 1956 Israel invaded the Gaza Strip and Sinai Peninsula, and Britain, and France attacked Egypt. The U.S.A. persuaded them to withdraw. Bombed ships closed the Suez Canal from 1956 until 1975. Egypt in 1956 began to nationalize banks, insurance companies, and much industry. The Soviet Union financed the Aswan Dam and loaned Egypt money for military weapons. Egypt and Syria joined briefly in 1958 but split by 1961. (See Syria.) In June 1967 Egypt, Jordan, and Syria attacked Israel. In the amazing "Six Day War" Israel soundly defeated all three countries, and occupied the West Bank of the Jordan River and the Gulf of Aqaba. Israel's military also remained in a larger area but agreed to leave it in 1970.

Nasser died in 1970 of a heart attack. The vice-president, Anwar el-Sadat, took over. The Aswan Dam was completed in 1971, it irrigates 400,000 hectares (nearly a million acres) of land. In 1972 Sadat expelled Soviet military advisors. On October 6, 1973 Egypt and Syria attacked Israel on a Jewish holiday. The Soviet Union airlifted weapons to Egypt and Syria, the U.S.A. airlifted weapons to Israel. A few months later the parties agreed to stop fighting. The U.S.A. began to give much aid to Egypt. On November 20, 1977 Sadat flew to Israel and asked its Knesset to negotiate a peace settlement. In March 1979, under pressure of U.S.A. President Jimmy Carter, Israel and Egypt signed a peace treaty at Camp David, Maryland. The Sinai peninsula was returned to Egypt. Other Arab nations opposed the agreement, as they had opposed Sadat's going to Israel. On October 6, 1981 Arab fundamentalists assassinated Sadat.

Hosni Mubarak, vice-president, became Egypt's president. Egypt's deputy prime minister, Boutros Boutros-Ghali, was elected secretary-general of the United Nations in 1992. Moslem fundamentalists have attacked Christians and Mubarak's government in Egypt.

BACKGROUND. Some 94 percent of Egyptians are Sunni Muslim. Most of the others are Coptic Christian. The inflation rate is around 10 percent, unemployment is 13 percent or more.

Cairo has 12.6 million and Alexandria has 3.2 million people in the metropolitan area. There were 34 million people in 1971. Population increased 85 percent in 33 years, and continues to increase fast. Finding food, water, housing, and jobs for all is a major problem.

Most of the country is dry desert. Three percent is arable, with water from the Nile River. There are 2,100 people per square km. of arable land, it is very crowded. The main crops are cotton, rice, beans, grain, corn, vegetables, and fruits. Egypt has only 6.3 million barrels of crude oil reserves. Cairo's January average high temperature is 18 degrees C, the average low is 8 C. The July average high temperature is 36 degrees C, the average low is 21 C.

Imports are three times the value of exports. Forty percent of the exports go to the European Union and 15 percent to the Arab League. Imports come from the European Union (35 percent) and the U.S.A. (20 percent).

The president has a term of six years. He appoints vice-presidents, one or more, plus his ministers. President Mubarak's National Democratic Party is dominant, there are at least 14 other parties. The constitution states that Egypt is an Arab republic. Half of the members of the People's Assembly should be farmers or from the working class. The president has much power.

There are eight years of primary schools in cities. However, many children do not go to school. Children between ages six and 13 get free school and uniforms. They pay only half the cost at a university.

Cairo's cost of living is low for a Westerner, only 56 dollars per month to rent a three-room apartment, with water. However, the average pay for men is only 15 dollars per day. Workers retire at age 65. Most people have health insurance. Young men age 19 are drafted for 18 months of military service.

TRAVELS. I first saw Egypt on a tanker ship early in 1946. We anchored at Port Said, waiting for our turn to go through the Suez Canal. It is on a narrow Peninsula between the Mediterranean and Lake Manzala, a salty marsh. A residential area with adobe houses and flat roofs was on the east side of the canal. Traders wearing a long tan or white cotton gallibiyah or gown, and a turban or red fez, came out in small boats, and swarmed over the ship. Some turbans were made of rags. They wanted to trade almost everything made of camel or gazelle leather, bright scarves, "gold" rings with "diamonds," bracelets, or boxes of dried dates. They tried to get me and other crew members to carry drugs to the Persian Gulf, saying we wouldn't be searched. I refused. They wanted cotton clothes or cigarettes, but not Camels, they get tired of looking at camels. The canal is narrow, straight, and lined with stone. When two ships meet one must stop and tie up to the bollards on shore. We saw high, dry hills to the east. The canal is some 169 km. (105 mi.) long. Both shores were sandy, and barges with a high prow and a big sail were busy dredging out sand blown in by wind. A highway and railway parallel each side of most of the canal. The many big camels on the road had huge flies sucking their blood. The men on the boats who rode with us, ready to tie up the ship when we met another ship, pointed out British block houses, with British soldiers. They said that at night men wanting independence sometimes attacked a blockhouse at night, then raced away on camels before daylight. We stopped and anchored in Great Bitter Lake. One of the ship's mates said we would be there long enough for a swim. It was hot, so we dove off of the low tank top and played in the water, warm as a bathtub. A beautiful monument on shore honors those who defended the canal in World War I. Port Suez, at the south end, had many merchant and navy ships of dozens of nations anchored, awaiting their turn to go through the canal. The lighthouse is 53 m. (174 ft.) high, and the big statue of Ferdinand de Lessups, builder of the canal, shows up from far away. It was once a big port for steamships to take on a load of coal. Now ships burn oil. We often met old Greek or Spanish ships in the eastern Mediterranean, and a few at the canal. Wives and children of sailors lived aboard, along with chickens, pigs, and goats. They usually smelled like a barnyard, but the vagabond life of tramp steamers did have some appeal.

The Gulf of Suez widened into the choppy Red Sea, with blue water, We admired the high hills on both sides, with snow. The water temperature was 29 C (85 F), but it got cooler as we went south. Air temperature was up to 52 C (126 F). Near the narrow Bab al Mandab we saw several hilly islands. On the port side I looked for the tall ancient mud buildings of Aden and Hadramaut (Yemen). Our deck hands cleaned out the big tanks, we filled them with gasoline in Bahrain, and headed back to the Red Sea. It was so hot that we sprinkled the tank tops all day long to prevent the vaporization of fuel in tanks.

In PORT SAID we anchored and were permitted to go ashore by launch. The captain warned us that there was much crime, and Egyptians were hostile toward the British. He advised us to wear our "high pressure" uniforms or symbols to show that we were from the U.S.A., not Great Britain. Four of us wandered together a few hours, trying to fend off aggressive vendors, and to avoid bumping into people, donkeys, or goats. Buildings were low, two or three floors, of concrete or adobe. Few streets were paved. One of the sailors said that on an earlier trip they had a few days in port, so four of them decided to rent a camel each to see the desert. After some time they agreed upon the terms. Three men each mounted his camel and it arose properly. The fourth camel didn't budge. The owner gave it a big nudge with his knee. The camel made a lot of noise as it passed gas. It then arose, ready to walk. The sailor said "Just as I thought. Vapor lock!"

I next arrived in Egypt 40 years later. My wife and I landed in Cairo before six o'clock in the morning, on a flight from Bombay. The waiting room was packed, with people sitting on suitcases. Many black Africans lay on the floor, asleep. Several women in long colorful dresses, half asleep, breast fed a baby. I got reservations on an evening flight to Israel. An airline agent said we should retrieve our suitcases. He helped me go through security, I identified our bags. Naturally, he asked for baksheesh. The Arab world functions on baksheesh. Men kissed each other on the lips when they said "goodbye." Cats prowled around, looking for food. I asked immigration about leaving the transit area. He said my wife and I would have to change 200 dollars each at the official rate of exchange, then 267 LE (Egyptian pounds) for 200 dollars. We stayed in transit. An airline let us stay in the comfortable first class lounge. I changed only a little money. Ten days later I exchanged dollars for 1.5 LE each. We found a satisfactory cafeteria and a good restaurant. I phoned several hotels recommended in my guide book. The telephone company said all of the numbers had recently been changed, to seven digits. When I asked for the new number, the telephone company agent said they didn't know what the new numbers were! When our flight left in the evening we saw the bright lights of Alexandria on our left, then the lights of Tel Aviv on our right.

Nine days later we landed in CAIRO. I told the manager of immigration that we were signing up for an expensive tour, paying by credit card, and I asked for a waiver of the requirement to change a lot of money at the official rate. He finally agreed, "temporarily." We signed up with a local tour company, got reservations at a moderate-price hotel, and rode with the tour company to our nice Mariott Hotel on Gezira Island, where for months we had reservations for one night. The central part of the hotel was once the Khedive Ismail's palace. We had a great view of boats on the Nile River from our 12th floor room in the tower.

Cairo is on both sides of the Nile, which runs mostly south to north. On the left bank or west, Giza, with pyramids and tourist hotels and night clubs, is in the south. A park with the University of Cairo and the zoo is not far north of Giza. A few museums, government buildings, and residential area are farther north. A canal, El Bahr El Ama, creates Gezira Island, the Nile is to the east. Two big Hilton hotels are in the south and the Mariott is in the north. The island also has the Egyptian Civilization Museum, tall Cairo Tower, and a sporting club. Il Tahrir Bridge and Il Tahrir Square with 10 streets leads to downtown, just east of Gezira Island. It includes the Egyptian Museum, the Nile Hilton Hotel, the National Assembly building, government and office buildings, and most of the city. The main railway station is in the north. Opposite it, Ramses Square has a big statue of Ramses II. The famous 10th Century al-Azhar Mosque and university is in the northeast. The airport is northeast of Cairo. The Citadel, or 12th Century fort built by Saladin, is east. Old Cairo is in the southeast. Another canal creates Roda Island in the south.

On the pyramids tour we rode in a minibus with Kiwis from New Zealand, south in traffic, past donkeys trotting along pulling carts, fruit and vegetable stands, dusty brick buildings, paved streets in fair condition, messy sidewalks with rubble and trash, one-hump camels and riders, a few kilometers of seedy night clubs with "girlie" shows or belly dancers, a few mosques, then the pyramids of GIZA in the haze. Our guide gave us tickets to enter. My wife and I climbed to near the top of Cheops, now no longer permitted. It was built by Khufu of the 3rd Dynasty. It is the "Great Pyramid," 288 m. (945 ft.) square at the base and 139 m. (455 ft.) high. It was once higher. Huge rectangular limestone blocks each weigh 2.5 tons or more. The four walls are steep, from 45 to 52 degrees. Each faces exact north, south, east, or west. Cheops, one of the "Seven Wonders of the Ancient World," is impressive, somewhat larger than the largest in Yucatan or Guatemala but smaller at the base than Mexico's Cholua. Some 100,000 workers labored 30 years to build it. Limestone was brought 1,000 km. down the Nile from Aswan. It is easy to see why the building of pyramids stopped soon afterwards--they required too much work and materials. My wife and I also climbed the inside tunnel, about 100 m. (328 ft.) vertically, at a 45 degree angle, often bending down because of a low roof. We entered the Grand Gallery, a chamber the size of a big living room. It was cooled by a draft through holes some 30 cm. (12 in.) square on each side.

We rode past Chephren, sister of Cheops, and less than two meters shorter, with much of the original marble still at the top. Builders over the ages have robbed stones from the pyramids. We also passed the smaller pyramid, Mycerinus (Menkaura), to get to a viewpoint three km. distant in the sandy, rocky Sahara Desert. I accepted an Arab's request to put on a robe and Arab headgear and climb onto his camel, which then rose and walked around. A stirrup and saddle helped. Egyptians have used camels only the past 3,000 years. After photos my wife traded places with me. I tipped what the guide had said was reasonable. Naturally, the camel owner wanted more. It is better to negotiate the price in advance. We then rode in the minibus to the Sphinx, dedicated to Re, god of the sun. It faces east, where the sun rises. Our guide said Napoleon's troops around 1800 A.D., when they dug the Sphynx and pyramids out of the sand, shot off the nose for target practice. Others deny the story. Several friendly groups of Egyptian primary school boys and girls, wearing pretty uniforms, also visited the pyramids and Sphinx.

We returned another evening for the Sound and Light Show at Giza. The program has sterophonic loudspeakers and a recording telling the history of Egypt, with floodlights shining alternately on Cheops, Chephren, Mycerinus, or the Sphynx. Herodotus, the Greek traveler in the 5th Century B.C. gave it the name "sphinx." The narrator in English told tales about some of the pharaohs. The show is quite impressive.

Returning to the city, we passed many women carrying baskets of cabbages and other produce on the head. A woman walked fast on the crowded sidewalk while carrying a gas burner on her head, without using her hands. Like most people, she wrapped a cloth around its edges to help support it. Other women carried a small baby on top of the head, its legs were wrapped around the neck. Near Cairo University, with 45,000 students, I saw a statue of a sphinx with its "arms" around a woman, a symbol of the old and the new. In a tourist shop we cashed a traveler's check at a good rate of exchange and bought a few inexpensive silver pendants. The shop sold leather furniture, hammered brass or copper ware, semiprecious jewelry, and paintings on parchment. Parchment lasts for thousands of years in a dry climate like Egypt. Another man showed us how he makes beautiful mahogany trays inlaid with mother-of-pearl, ivory, or other material. His two brothers were killed in the 1973 war with Israel. He said that Egypt's Sadat had the promise by Yasir Arafat in 1978 of his support to negotiate a peace with Israel. However, after Arafat talked with Iraq's Saddam Hussein, Arafat withdrew his support of Sadat for peace. He said that Libya's Qaddafi is "crazy."

We ate a fresh juvawa fruit that looked like a pear. It has a strong, tart taste, and bitter small tan seeds forming a big core. We realized that we had eaten the same fruit bought at a market in Sri Lanka. We didn't like it there, either. We moved into a comfortable, clean, cheap hotel where there were mostly Egyptian and a few young European guests. The toilet in our room, like some others in Egypt, had a practical water line, controlled by a separate faucet, for washing the rear end, like a bidet. In the 8th floor restaurant we ate shish kabob while we watched boats on the Nile. All foreigners in Egypt are required to register with the police within seven days of arriving, the hotel registered for us. We found good Egyptian red wine, the Omar Khayyam was one of our favorites. The restaurant had recorded rock music for dinner, even for breakfast.

The Mosque of Sultan Hassan, 850 years old, is Cairo's largest. At the main entrance it is 30 m. (98 ft.) to the half-dome above. Marble from Giza's three pyramids was stolen to build it. It looks like a fort from the outside, and did provide shelter in times of troubles. The mosque has a high dome, stained glass windows, carved inscriptions from the Koran on pillars and walls, Sultan Hassan's tomb, and a wood ceiling inlaid with ivory. The minaret is the tallest in Cairo. From it muzzeins called Muslims to prayer. Believers wash face, hands, and feet at the outside faucets before entering, and leave shoes at the door. It is full five times daily with men praying southeast toward Mecca. On Fridays, the Muslim's holy day, men pray standing, then bowing, and sitting, cross-legged, facing toward Mecca. On Fridays the hatep then gives a sermon from the Koran and answers questions. The few women who pray in the mosque have a separate area. The mosque is in southeast Cairo, near the Citadel. Children and youths are never seen in mosques, unless they are visitors. Is that a reason why Islam attracts young men--they have become adults and then have the privilege of going to the men's mosque? The Orthodox Christian religions were strongly discouraged under communism, but are now somewhat popular in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.

We took a tour of Old Cairo. Men and women wore long light-color "gowns," a gallabiya, Men wore a turban but no red fez. I saw many in Egypt 40 years earlier. Our guide said the fez is (or was, it is rarely worn now) Turkish, not Arabic. It is a remnant of Turkey's occupation of Egypt, that ended in 1914. Vendors at stands sold fresh fruit, vegetables, and live chickens. Goats wandered on piles of rubble. There is enough rubble on Cairo's streets, sidewalks, and flat roofs to build another 83 pyramids. Egypt would then have more tourist attractions and would get rid of a problem at the same time. When a new building is completed the masonry rubble is left on the roof, street, or sidewalk, where it stays, forever. Men and women carried buckets on the head and shoulders, often filled with rubble. Men were always working on streets and sidewalks. Donkeys in bright harnesses pulled carts, often trotting. Many public toilets have an attendant who rushes to show the urinal a few steps away, or to turn on a faucet. Their only pay is often the baksheesh tips. Herodotus, the great Greek traveler of 2400 years ago, visited Egypt. He found it strange that in Egypt "women pass water standing and men sitting." I believe that is no longer true.

Coptic Christians live in Old Cairo. They could pay an annual tax to the Muslim governments so were not required to convert to Islam. They adopted the ankh or "key of life" of the pharaohs as their Christian cross. The narrow alleys have many shops, selling fruit, vegetables, other foods, textiles, brassware, and more. There are two synagogues, Jews have lived there for centuries. They were invited by Muslims to stay, lend money and charge interest, and do other functions that Muslims are not permitted to do. The Citadel or walled city on a hill was built by Saladin the Turk in the 12th Century. He was sultan of Egypt and Syria, founded the Ayyubid Dynasty, and stopped the Crusaders. Some consider him to be the greatest Muslim hero of all time. The Alabaster Mosque was built after the 12th Century.

The Coptic Museum has parts of old churches, frescoes, wood sculpture, pottery, textiles, and old manuscripts. Stone carvings include tombstones and columns. One fresco shows Adam and Eve, nude before the fall, and holding leaves in vital places after the fall. Little pieces of wood are inlaid to make intricate geometric patterns of art.

The big Egyptian Museum has King Tut-Ankh-Amon's exhibit. His undisturbed tomb was opened in 1922. He died at age 19 in 1350 B.C. The many artifacts are well preserved, colors are bright. A fan is made of ostrich feathers, there are two wooden statues of black soldiers with clothes made of gold leaf, the stone seals used by the pharaoh (each important person had a signature or cartouche), symbols of the "key of life," and treasure boxes full of jewelry. The pharaoh (king) had carved walking sticks, a symbol of power. He had two chairs, and footstools with symbols of his enemies, so he could step on them regularly. Returning boomerangs similar to those used by Australia's Aborigines were common. Lamps made of alabaster were used. Alabaster bottles were filled with perfume made from lotus blossoms, the bottles are still almost full and the perfume is pungent. The pharaoh wore golden sandals with a golden protector for each toe. He had two chariots made mostly of gold. Four large wooden boxes, each covered with gold and inscriptions, one box inside the other, held his coffin or sarcophagus. Four canopic jars made of alabaster held his vital organs--eyes, stomach, liver, and heart. After vital organs were removed carefully through small cuts, the carcass was dried with natran, consisting of sodium carbonate and other salts.

The big museum has many rooms of exhibits, divided by the Old Kingdom (2700 to 2150 B.C.), Middle Kingdom (1980 to 1750 B.C.), and New Kingdom (1580 to 332 B.C.). Some archaeologists believe the dates should be earlier. Some historians use slightly different dates. The capital of Ancient Egypt was moved from Memphis to Luxor around 1350 B.C. Covers of the many coffins have drawings showing the daily life of the king. Some of the scrolls made of papyrus are 4700 years old but are still clear. They also show daily life. Many funerary boats found in tombs are shown, they were for transportation of the deceased, across the River Styx or elsewhere. There are many models, made of carved wood or pottery, and painted. A model of a Nubian (modern Sudan) army regiment shows black soldiers, tall and short, wearing only loin cloths, carrying spears and shields. A model of an Egyptian regiment shows bigger loin cloths, brown skin, spears and shields. Other models show a courtyard of a typical noble's home, a brewery, carpentry shop, cloth spinners, kitchens, oxen plowing, and men and women carrying offerings on the head. Ancient leveling and surveying instruments--triangles and right-angles, each with a plumb line, were used to accurately determine the boundaries of each farm after seasonal flooding. Math and surveying was developed and improved. Stools and chairs were common, even among the poor. Chairs were not common in Europe until 300 years ago. Other exhibits are of "pre-dynasty" or older Neolithic culture on the Nile.

My wife and I walked a lot in Cairo, but traffic is heavy, vehicles are noisy and may not stop at a red light or stop sign, sidewalks are narrow or nonexistent. Street signs, if there are any, are usually only in Arabic. Cairo is dusty and dirty, I had to shower as soon as I returned to the hotel. People were friendly and offered in English to help, but many only wanted to lead us into their carpet shop "for a cup of tea." Cairo is dry and dusty, it only gets two or three cm. (one inch) of rain each year. A local newspaper reported that "most" Egyptians eat 10,000 calories of food daily! That is three or four times the recommended amount. We saw many fat people in Egypt, but no more than in Germany or the U.S.A. Of course, many of the poor do not get enough to eat. On our visit we saw no beggars in Egypt, the government "rounds them up," they do not present a good image for tourists.

A minibus took us on an all-day tour south and to Sakkara (west of the Nile), then a few kilometers farther south to Memphis. The tour company's senior guide rode most of the distance with us, getting off where he had tethered his donkey. He would ride it a few kilometers more to his village. I asked him what was Egypt's greatest problem. "Too many babies, and kids who never go to school," he said. We passed tall new concrete apartment buildings, an irrigation canal with women and girls washing clothes or dishes, donkeys pulling carts loaded with cabbages, carrots, or manure. Other donkeys carried a big loaded basket on each side. Some had a rider, or two small children riding. There were as many children not in school as children in school uniforms. Some farms, including a big chicken farm, had a big farm-house, but most people lived in an adobe house in a village. Camels pulled a big cart or had a man riding on the hump. That is much more comfortable than the extreme rear, over the legs. Near a village there were many irrigated fields of green vegetables, or alfalfa, bananas, date palms, orange trees, or sheep. Married women usually wear black, as if in mourning. Young girls, often pretty, with white skin, wear red or other bright colors.

We arrived at SAKKARA in the Sahara, where nothing was green. We passed ruins of two "new" Roman temples, caves being excavated, sand dunes, then the Step Pyramid. It was Egypt's first, built by King Zoser (Djoser) some 4600 years ago, in the 3rd Dynasty. It has five big angled step risers, then almost flat areas in between. Sakkara is ancient Egypt's 2nd-largest necropolis, or area with tombs, after West Thebes. The mastaba (rectangular tomb with sloping sides) of Ti is one or two kilometers distant. We climbed down into the tomb of Ti, stooping low in the tunnel. He was a hairdresser to two pharaohs, a rich and important man. Carvings, some in color, are preserved on the stone walls inside. Scenes show hunting, battles, and domestic life, plus other people bringing offerings of food to him. A serdab or statue of Ti is in the "Chapel," because Egyptians did not know at that early time, 2450 B.C., whether a mummified body would be preserved. The Chapel was a place to receive offerings.

We climbed down to the tomb of Akhethotep, another important person, and his father, Ptahhotep. Their tomb has excellent carved scenes on the smooth rock walls, of fishing, building boats, and fighting enemies. The skull and mummy, covered with cloth, are in a stone casket. Signs above a statue of Akhethotep state that he was the high priest for three pharoahs. A scene shows a marsh, with papyrus plants. Other scenes show a vineyard and making wine. Boys play nearby. Slaves were buried alive in a nearby pit when the master died. This practice stopped later.

We visited the tomb of Meriuka. The entrance, like other tombs, states that anyone entering the tomb must be pure, or the deceased will be tortured in the next world. His statue is life-size. The tomb is large, with many rooms. His daughter was the main wife of Pharaoh Teti, of the 6th Dynasty. Leaving, we saw women carrying freshly-cut big bundles of alfalfa on top of the head, plus sakieh (irrigation water wheels) turned by a donkey hooked to a pole, walking unattended in a circle.

We arrived in MEMPHIS, first capital of the Old Kingdom, including most of the dynasties through the 18th. Memphis was perhaps the largest city in the world 4200 years ago. Ptah was the supreme god, he was the creator. A big statue of Ramses II in alabaster stone lies on its back horizontal. An alabaster sphinx and statue of a dwarf lie in the ruins. Dwarfs were used to guard treasures, if any were missing a dwarf could be easily found. There are many stelae. Leaving, we stopped at the Papyrus Palace. A woman demonstrated how they make parchment. She peeled a section of a stalk three meters long of fresh papyrus plant, it grows in swampy areas. The peeling is used to make "cane" furniture. She cut the soft inside into strips, laid a layer down, and another layer at right angles. It is soaked in water for six days, then flattened for six days in a press. The resulting "paper" may last thousands of years. China made paper by a similar process. Leaving, we passed big Khan Al Bazaar, stopped at a tourist shop, and returned to the hotel.

We arose at five o'clock one morning, but the lovesick cats were up earlier. Some nights dogs all over Cairo communicated with each other. A driver for our tour company took my wife and me past construction for a badly-needed subway, cars parked on the street or parking lots but with a canvas cover to keep away dust and sand, then into heavy traffic with three lanes squeezed together, to the airport. Amazingly, there are few accidents. Our jet flew south for an hour, over the Nile, desert, dry rivers, barren hills, old river beds with only sand, an irrigation canal, and the Nile, with a narrow green strip on each side, surrounded by sand. Egyptians say "Egypt is the Nile, and the Nile is Egypt." At the airport near LUXOR we saw military planes and bunkers. A driver for our tour company took us past men riding little donkeys, new diggings among the ancient ruins, the Nile on our right, and the city of 50,000 on our left.

We dropped off our bags at the hotel, then caught a ferry across the Nile, with our guide, 77 years old, and a young Japanese couple. Our guide was a young man working for Howard Carter in 1922 when they dug away the pile of rubble outside the tomb of Ramses II, to find King Tut's tomb. He had lived in Luxor all of his life, except for a few months in London to work on an Egyptian exhibit at the British Museum. He said that it had "never rained" in Luxor. Roofs are needed only for protection against the sun and dust, or burglars.

On the far side of the brown river, WEST THEBES, our guide bargained for a taxi. We passed fields of sugar cane (it is replanted every three years, then re-grows annually), alfalfa, women carrying bundles of alfalfa on the head and donkeys carrying it strapped to the back, date palms, black sheep, adobe fences, villages of adobe houses, and men repairing the road. We stopped to look at the Colossi of Memnon, stone statues nearly 20 m. (65 ft.) high, of Amenhotep III and his mother. They have carved figures of birds, cobras, and lotus plants. We rode to the Valley of the Queens, where queens and royal children were buried. Tombs in pyramids and dug tombs in Memphis were quickly looted after a pharoah died. They moved the site of their tombs to isolated West Thebes in Dynasty 18, around 1550 B.C. Workers who dug the limestone caves were hidden in a distant village. However, tombs were still looted soon after a pharaoh died. Why were Egyptian tombs looted, but rich tombs in China were not looted?

We visited the Valley of the Queens. The tomb of Queen Titi, 20th Dynasty, was lighted by a man holding a big mirror, reflecting the sun's rays onto another big mirror, then into the tomb. It has many murals, including sacred bulls, scenes of a table with round bread, wine, and more, all for the afterlife. A goddess is shown changing from a cow to a human. The goddess Serket has a drawing of a scorpion on her head. We climbed into the tomb of Amon-Hir Khopshef, nine-year-old son of Ramses III, buried about 1170 B.C. The carved drawings on tomb walls were still bright, in green, red, brown, and white. The burial chamber had 365 statues, one for each day of the year. There are three chambers, the inner chamber had the sarcophagus.

We passed a Coptic Christian monastery built around 300 A.D. A Coptic cemetery is nearby. Soon we passed caves with tombs of nobles, then a Muslim cemetery. They wrap bodies in cloth but use no coffin. We visited the large temple of Queen Hatshepsut, who died about 1482 B.C. She was the daughter and heiress of Thutmose I, who said that she should rule when he died. She ruled as a pharoah for the young boy Thutmose III. She built a great temple to show her exploits. She sent an expedition to the Land of Punt, probably Somalia, and traded for myrrh (an aromatic gum from trees), incense, gold, and ebony. Drawings show that she traded with Ethiopia and brought back elephant ivory and gold bracelets. Drawings also show how boats went from the Nile to the Red Sea (with squid and other salt water sea creatures) via the Crocodile Lakes and a canal that then existed, 3400 years before today's Suez canal. The temple was being restored by archaeologists, carefully numbering each stone. Stone masons make new pieces to replace lost ones.

We rode up a dry, rocky canyon to the Valley of the Kings. Thutmose I, who died in 1497 B.C., built his tomb in the dry valley, others followed. Tombs of 40 pharaohs have been found, but cartouches show that there are 22 more in the valley. Pharaohs were considered to be gods, not human. They believed that the soul would revisit the body as a bird. Each tomb was filled with transportation and food for the trip to the Underworld. We visited the tomb of Tut-Ankh-Amon, found intact with much gold and jewelry, which toured Europe and the U.S.A. Our guide told how excited they were when they found the tomb 63 years earlier, under the rubble of the tomb uphill, Ramses VI. Typical pictures on the tomb's walls from the Book of the Dead show a boat ready to cross the River Styx in the Underworld, baboons, men, and women. Tut was poisoned and died at age 19.

We visited the tomb of Ramses VI, with a long sloping entrance tunnel. His tomb has pictures from the Book of the Dead, Osiris (god of the Underworld) weighing the soul to see if it is light enough to be saved, cobra snakes, and animals. His sarcophogus is in a large room. The ceiling is famous for the beautiful paintings, including two of Nuts, the naked goddess of the sky. She is lengthened to extend past the painted stars that she has eaten in an attempt to turn night into day. Construction of a tomb began when the reign began and ended when the pharoah died, so a king who reigned a long time had a big tomb. Ramses VI reigned 90 years.

Guides now call Ramses II "the Great chiseler" because he put his name on monuments and deeds actually done by others. Recently, after my visit, archaeologists have found adjoining hidden tombs of 52 sons of Ramses II.

The tomb of Ramses IX, who died about 1111 B.C., has deeply-carved pictures and beautiful paintings from the Book of the Dead, plus snakes, birds, and boats bringing offerings to the pharaoh. Wicked souls, enemies of the king, are shown at the bottom, upside-down, or without heads. The scarab beetle is often shown for the resurrection of the king. The beetle lays eggs in the mud, "dies" in the dry season, but in the flooded season the eggs hatch, like resurrection. Stone on the tomb's floor has seashell fossils, showing that the sea once covered the desert in West Thebes.

We returned to Luxor in the late afternoon. The next day we took a horse-drawn carriage from our hotel in Luxor for the ride of a few km. north to Karnak, or Amon Re Temple, the largest temple in Egypt. It is some 107 m. wide and 366 m. long, built from 1800 to 200 B.C. Amon Re was the king of gods in the Middle Kingdom. French under Napoleon cleaned out the sand and named it after Carnak, Brittany, in France. Ramses VI built the double-row of stone rams at the entrance. The row once extended many kilometers south to the Temple of Luxor. Like most temples, it has an open courtyard for the common people, a row of columns for the nobles, and an inner court for the king's family. Common people could not enter ancient Egypt's temples. The columns, with many inscriptions, are more than 20 m. (65 ft.) tall. Of the 12 original obelisks, only two remain. One erected by Queen Hatshepsut is 30 m. long. A roof made of a double thickness of stones once provided shade and insulation, it is now gone. There are several small temples built by pharaohs. The Great Hypostle Hall of Amon Re Temple has 134 stone columns, each shaped like several papyrus stems tied together, with inscriptions carved on them. The Sacred Lake, about five meters (16 ft.) deep, is not far away. It was used to cleanse and for sacred boats. An outdoor cafe borders the little lake.

We took another horse-drawn carriage south to the Temple of Luxor, near our hotel. It is some 256 m. (840 ft.) long. It was built mostly by Amenhotep III after 1400 B.C., for the harem of the main god, Amun Re. He was said to have sex with his wife, the goddess Mut, in the temple, to insure that crops would be good the next year. The courtyard has 13 big statues, more than 20 m. high, added later by Ramses II, of himself. Some have a much smaller statue of his wife at his feet, to show that she was of only minor importance. The Colonnade of Tut-Ankh-Amon was built 1498 to 1483 B.C. It has many drawings or pictures. The Hypostle Hall has 32 columns set in four rows of eight each. Carvings show Ramses II making an offer to Min, god of fertility, who has an erect penis as long as his forearms. One of the inscriptions is of Min, who was killed by his brother Set (Seth), god of evil, war, and storms. Min was later put together again, except for his penis, which was eaten by a catfish. Nubians (Sudanese) are said not to eat catfish today because it may include Set's penis. A Coptic Christian Church was built on the temple grounds in the 4th Century, and a mosque was built on the grounds in the 12th Century.

The Luxor Museum has statues and stelae of Middle Kingdom pharoahs, queens, nobles, gods, and goddesses. Furniture from the tombs includes stools and chairs with cane seats, and a bed of cane with a pillow made of iron hammered into a U shape. Millions of Africans today sleep with a similar pillow, except that they are usually made of wood or clay. There is a head of a cow goddess from King Tut's tomb, the wood is black from pitch but copper horns and a golden face brighten it. I asked our 77 year old guide if life was better for the average Egyptian in the Middle Kingdom, or today. He said "It was a thousand times better then," exaggerating, at least some. I asked why. "Today there are too many babies. They can't get enough to eat."

One Friday morning my wife and I walked more than two hours in the residential part of Luxor. Away from the tourist area near the Nile, drivers of the horse-drawn carriages no longer asked us to ride. Vendors tried to sell busts of Queen Nefertiti, picture post cards, leather goods, cheap jewelry, stone bowls, paintings on papyrus, and textiles. Some people are Muslims, some are Coptic Christian, but many seem to have Friday as a day off. Children played in the dirt streets. Boys pushed a T-shape stick with wheels made of lids of tin cans, or they rolled a bicycle tire with a stick, or played soccer. They stopped playing long enough to ask for "school pens" or baksheesh. Donkey carts were loaded with fruits and vegetables, and a little alfalfa to feed to the donkey. Men sat in the shade, talking with friends and smoking a hookah (water pipe). Women put 12 or 15 flat round loaves of bread some 22 cm. (9 in.) in diameter on the window ledge to dry in the sun. After baking in an outdoor oven the family will get what the flies haven't eaten. Women and girls joined neighbors to sit on the doorstep, shelling beans or peas, or cleaning vegetables, while chatting. I saw few shawls and no veils. Men and boys wear a loose light-colored "gown", a few wore loose-fitting garments like pajamas. Muslim men also wore a turban. The markets sold oranges, stalks or joints of sugar cane (to chew for the sweet juice, the rest is spit out), potatoes, tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplant, and more. During the hot noonday and early afternoon we rested in the shade of our hotel's courtyard and drank Sport Colas. Insect repellent kept flies away. Even the sailing feluccas and other boats on the Nile seem to slow down in the heat. The sun was fiery red as it set in the dusty desert on the far side of the Nile.

In the early evening we took a taxi to the railway station, finding our nice Wagon Lits compartment. We were served meals on a tray, airplane-style. During the night we rode some 676 km. (420 mi.) north, downriver, to CAIRO. We awoke to see date palms, green fields, and a highway in the light fog. Donkeys, water buffalo, and camels seemed to ignore our train. Near Cairo we saw apartment houses the color of dust, dusty cars, and piles of trash or rubble. The desert sand, orange or yellow, changes to gray, black, or brown in dirty Cairo. After a stop in Giza we passed shacks of squatters, and boys driving donkeys harnessed three to a cart.

We walked to the University of Cairo to visit students. When we had no pass the guard would not let us enter. I asked to talk with the boss. The head guard said no foreigner could visit the university "for security reasons." He finally said that if we had a letter from our ambassador and a written invitation from a professor and were escorted by him we could visit his part of the university. We were unable to contact a professor whom we had met in Asia. However, we soon found a student hangout, where students liked to talk with North Americans. They said there was "some good and some bad" about Egypt. They wanted to visit the U.S.A. They said they "admire your technology" but "don't like your politics." One student said Israelis killed his father in the 1967 war, and he blamed Israel's ally, the U.S.A., also. Some one-third of the students are female, they did not wear scarves. In Cairo many educated single women and wives work outside of the home. However, some fundamentalists want to go back to the 7th Century.

We visited the zoo. The first caged animal we saw was a "Siamese Cat." In the next cage, called "Domestic Cat," an alley tomcat, scarred from many battles, had traded his freedom for regular feeding and security. Many people do the same thing. The small zoo also has a good collection of African animals, and some others. Two young men wanted to practice English, buy my Japanese camera (Egypt has a high tariff on most imported goods), and to accept gifts of casette tapes with rock music. They were disappointed to learn that we had none, but we chatted and drank Sport Cola. They were mechanics in a factory.

We took a taxi one evening to the Mariott Hotel to see the Egyptian Dances program. After a kebob (meat and vegetables on a skewer) four girls dressed in bright colored dresses waved a scarf in each hand, while dancing and twirling to the music. Three men wearing white jackets and pants, with a bright sash and red fez, each carried a stick while dancing. Girls carrying sticks then danced with much hip movement, like a belly dance or a Hawaiian hula. One girl did a typical belly dance, her big hips making an arc. The girls used hands expressively, men clapped hands, leaped, and in the last dance they were dressed in costumes to look like horses. Two days later we flew to Kenya.

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