orientalcairocit00sladuoft

132 Oriental Cairo
horrible reptile-house back into the gardens, where the
unsentimental banana was flowering gorgeously side by side
with our English jessamine, and to look at oddities like the
enormous crown pigeons of New Guinea, which are about the
size of turkeys ; the crimson cardinal birds of Brazil, and
the orange capuchin, and the blue, ruby-cheeked finch. But
the funniest specimens of all were the babiroussa, half pig
and half deer, one of the three animals which forgot to be
destroyed in the flood, being preserved on some very high
mountains in Celebes which rivalled the feat of Mount Ararat,
though the fact is not mentioned in the Bible ; the porcupine
and her baby, and the brindled gnu, with its extraordinary
whiskers.
As it only costs a penny farthing, some Egyptians do go
to the Zoo, especially the women, and trail about like poor
Japanese in a temple. But its principal use is to make a
promenade for Tommy Atkins. It is within a walk of Cairo
if he is too hard up to pay for a tram, and I think he is
admitted free if he is in uniform, a proviso which does not
really signify, as he is never out of his uniform, except when
he is playing lawn tennis. Tommy thoroughly enjoys it.
He is never tired of watching the black keepers making the
animals play tricks, which they do whenever a well-off-looking
foreigner passes. They only expect a tip of a penny. I used
to go there with my pockets full of small piastres, and if I
had only lived near enough I should have liked to have gone
into the Zoological Gardens of Gizeh every morning after
breakfast for the little airing I take as a pick-me-up before I
begin the serious business of the day.
P.S.—There was one other adorable feature about this
place. So many wild birds, huge Egyptian kites, and a fine
variety of water-fowl from storks downwards, thought the
enclosures in which the specimens from other countries were
imprisoned such nice places that they came and settled there
of their own accord. It was a pity that crocodiles could not
imitate their example ; the place was rather short of croco-
diles, and the few they had were not long enough.