Cook & Son (Egypt Ltd.) Have Even Gone So Far As To Conceive The Idea
That It Would Be Original To Give To Their Establishment A Certain
/Cachet/ Of Islam.
And the dining-room reproduces (in imitation, of
course - but then you must not expect the impossible) the interior of
one of the mosques of Stamboul.
At the luncheon hour it is one of the
prettiest sights in the world to see, under this imitation holy
cupola, all the little tables crowded with Cook's tourists of both
sexes, the while a concealed orchestra strikes up the "Mattchiche."
The dam, it is true, in suppressing the cataract has raised some
thirty feet or so the level of the water upstream, and by so doing has
submerged a certain Isle of Philae, which passed, absurdly enough, for
one of the marvels of the world by reason of its great temple of Isis,
surrounded by palm-trees. But between ourselves, one may say that the
beautiful goddess was a little old-fashioned for our times. She and
her mysteries had had their day. Besides, if there should be any
chagrined soul who might regret the disappearance of the island, care
has been taken to perpetuate the memory of it, in the same way as that
of the cataract. Charming coloured postcards, taken before the
submerging of the island and the sanctuary, are on sale in all the
bookshops along the quay.
Oh! this quay of Assouan, already so British in its orderliness, its
method!
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