1 O. W. Qualley Log University of Michigan Archaeological Project in Karanis, Egypt, 1924-25 (Revision, with additions, begun 15 August 2014) A Diary of Seven Months in Egypt, 1 October 1924 through 30 April 1925 1 October 1924 After calling at the Express Office we went to the Museum. Boak has letters to a couple of the men there and some business with them relative to the Expedition. While he saw the one who was in I looked around at the first part of the collection. It is a wonderful exhibit. I shall have to do it piecemeal and expect to go back several times while we are here. At present it isn’t open after one in the afternoon. The Museum’s material illustrates the art, sculpture, life, etc. of Egypt from the earliest period down through the Roman period. Relics from the time of the Arab domination are kept in the Arabian Museum. From our hotel the Museum is less than ten minutes’ walk distant. In the afternoon the American Express Company’s guide, that is their chief of staff—the Express co. has over a dozen Egyptians for that sort of thing—took us around the Southeast quarter of the city. This fellow is very reliable and so much more intelligent than the average. He knows a great deal more about things too. We engaged a carriage for the afternoon in order to cover as much ground as possible and also to save ourselves. When we have this guide for another half day we shall have covered the Arab or native part of the city pretty well. The guide took us into several places where the ordinary tourists do not go, especially in the native quarter. He showed us what is known as the Golden House from the 13th century. It was built by a rich merchant of Cairo. The Sycamore woodwork is carved in the very finest design and the ceilings throughout are worked in a gilded pattern—hence the name. The harem was well provided for. Of course it had to be if there were 17 in it as the guide said. In the native quarter the streets are so narrow that the balconies of the houses often meet. Passing through the native quarter is very interesting. Vehicles of every description from the donkey cart to the automobile were trying to make progress through the crowded street. You can realize just what a hoodlum exists when all the drivers shout to the pedestrians to look out and get out of the way. The terrific shouting in the streets is one of the marked differences between Cairo or any Egyptian town and our cities. We seemed to be as much of a curiosity to the natives as they were to us. The shops all along the way are horribly dirty. How anyone can buy food there is beyond me. We entered three of the finer mosques and have two left to visit, one of them the Mohammedan University. The Blue Mosque which we visited yesterday is a branch of the U. and has some of the younger students. Getting into it is like being in a madhouse. All the younger students learn is the Koran. With them all studying out loud it must be easy to learn a lesson and fun for the teacher. No wonder they are ignorant. The Mosque El Mouyaid is interesting. Outside at the gate are a lot of bolts and pegs sticking out. The sick or those with an ailment come there to be cured. In passing they kneel there or put their face to the wall. Taking a piece off from the bandage covering the sore and tying it to a peg effects a cure, they think. The place was crowded when we passed. 2 Mohammed Ali’s Mosque about 100 years old is one of the very finest in Cairo. Built of Alabaster stone it was patterned in almost every detail on the famous church, Saint Sofia at Constantinople which has of course been converted into a mosque by the Turks. Around the large central dome are four half domes and at the corners there are four full domes, though smaller. The effect is beautiful. The mosque is built on the citadel of the city. Passing around behind the mosque we had a magnificent view of Cairo and its environs. I am told it is one of the very finest in the world. Below us stretched the panorama of the City of Cairo with its countless domes and minarets. To the west of the city flows the Nile now at its height. Some miles beyond the Nile the pyramids caught our eye, massive things they are even at a distance of nine miles. Beyond them are the Libyan and Sahara Deserts. It is an impressive sight. The Blue Mosque is interesting. Originally all its walls in the interior were covered with blue porcelain brought from China in the 13th Century. Napoleon and his army took most of it from the walls and shipped it to France when he invaded Egypt in 1798. Many of the mosques were used as stables by him and yet he pretended to be friendly to the Mohammedans. Enough of the blue porcelain remains to give one an idea of how beautiful it must have been when intact. All the mosques have washing places for ablution. The Mohammedan must wash certain parts of his body 3 times before he prays 5 times a day. We saw several performing the ablution. We expect to make a visit to the Pyramids, perhaps next week. Boak is thinking of taking two or three days. Then we will get our first camel ride and shall probably camp out on the desert as it is so much cleaner than the places one gets into out there. We shall have this guide if we do that. He is exceedingly good. I have just gotten back from a visit to the American University of Cairo. Telford gave me the name of the President, Mr. Watson. He was very nice to me showed me around the buildings and took me back to the hotel in his car. I am going to look up a couple of others whose names I have in the near future, one man at the American Mission, near Shepherd’s Hotel. Have I told you that there is a large American Presbyterian Mission School at Assiut? I am glad as we shall see them. It’s a big American colony there, Watson told me. 2 October 1924 After I finished your letter on Wednesday I went to the American Mission to look up Rev. Jordan who is engaged to Telford’s niece. I got into the President, Dr. Alexander’s office in my search. The latter is a fine old man who has put in nearly his whole life here in Egypt. He was very interested in our work and he knows Kelsey well. He introduced me to his wife and a Dr. Hutchinson of their mission near Alexandria. I was invited in to have tea with them. Wasn’t that kind? There I met Dr. Pollock and his wife. He is another American physician connected with the Presbyterian mission work and is in charge of the American Hospital at Assiut. I was unusually glad to meet him as I know to whom to go from Maabda in case of any trouble. They extended invitations to Boak and myself to spend a weekend or any other time we have at their home. It developed that he was a classmate of Telford’s at the Seminary so I have a sort of link with him. He is the finest kind of man too. 3 There is a colony of about thirty or 35 Americans at Assiut. It will be like getting home to visit there. The Presbyterian mission has two colleges there, one for boys with 800 students, and one for girls with 400. They are doing a great work here in Egypt. Services are held in English at the mission here on Sunday afternoon at six. If Boak doesn’t suggest anything taking us away from Cairo I intend to go. After the tea Gordon was on the scene. He is a modest young fellow but a fine chap. He took his college work at Nebraska. He said he would look me up here. There was a call for me here last night. By the time I got to the phone the connection was gone. I am very thankful to have made contact with so many fine people here. I know that they would do everything for one. The best part is that we are joined by a sort of common bond. One realizes here what it means to meet Christian men and women. Yesterday morning I bought a couple of Arabic books and intend to try to pick up some of it. In the P. M. we went out to the Zoological Gardens. The tramway out there crosses the Nile by way of Gezireh Island, the fashionable resort of Cairo—it is beautiful there—and runs south along the west bank of the river. We came back just at sunset. I caught a glimpse of the Pyramids in that beautiful pink afterglow. The palm trees in the foreground gave the picture a fine setting. The palms and houseboats along the Nile are a reality to me now. The Zoo has a great collection of game animals, especially the bigger ones which abound in tropical Africa. The monster hippo got out of the water for his feed while we were there.