CAIRO. 



Jl.3 



t uiro. sive buildings, containing many covered stalls, or 

 *, for the different commodities ; for each kind 

 of which then- are ap; quarleM. Hut the 



greatest ornament of thin city are its mo.qni.-B, or 

 giamcvs, of which tlu-re ar<- upwards of three hun- 

 dred within the walla. All these edifices being 

 adorned with minarets or lofty steeples, of the light- 

 est and most ornamented architecture, agreeably in- 

 terrupt the uniformity of the flat- roofed nouses, and 

 are so numerous as actually to appear at a distance 

 like the masts of ships in a crowded harbour. These 

 minarets are surrounded, at a great elevation, with 

 projecting galleries, in which stand the public criers* 

 who announce the stated times of prayer prescribed 

 by the Mahometan law. Upwards of eight hundred 

 voices may be heard at once from these lofty stations. 

 It is said that the jealous Mahometans compel these 

 criers, by an oath, to keep their eyes shut while 

 above, lest they should look into any of their harems; 

 but that as a better precaution, they generally select 

 blind persons for this office ! Among this multitude 

 of mosques, several are remarkable for their elegance 

 and solidity. The most magnificent is the mosque 

 of Sultan Hassan; next to it is the mouristan, a fa- 

 mous hospital for the insane, the sick, and the blind, 

 where fourteen thousand persons are said to receive 

 support at the public expence. Not far off is ano- 

 ther noble structure, the mosque of flowern, in which 

 there is an academy or college. This building, at the 

 same time that it is a master-piece of oriental decora- 

 tion, and splendidly adorned in the interior with mar- 

 ble pillars and Persian carpets, is so remarkably 

 strong that the Beys have sometimes mounted it with 

 cannon, and dislodged the pacha from the citadel. 

 Here is a considerable collection of manuscripts ; 

 but the only branches of learning taught are a sort 

 of wretched theology, grammar, and astrology, in 

 which the Mahometans are great believers. The in- 

 terior of these i.-.osques is in general fitted up with 

 the greatest simplicity. The pavement is commonly 

 covered with mats, seldom with carpeting ; while 

 the walls have scarcely any other ornaments than 

 some passages of the Koran written in letters of gold, 

 together with a vast number of plain lamps suspend- 

 ed in horizontal rows. In the middle of the city, 

 the Greeks have a large church dedicated to St Ni- 

 cholas. Here also the Armenians have one, and the 

 Copts, or native Christians of the Eutychian sect, 

 two. Their patriarchs, and that of Alexandria, of 

 the Greek persuasion, have their residence in the street 

 called Harte- Room ; and in another called Juwaria, 

 resides the Archbishop of Mount Sinai, who, though 

 he always lives at Cairo, is not a suffragan of the pa- 

 triarch of Alexandria, but of that of Jerusalem. As 

 the doors of these convents cannot be opened without 

 paying an enormous tax to the Arabs, the entrance 

 is by a window, to which you are hoisted up in a 

 basket. The Jews also have a synagogue near the 

 Greek church. 



The citadel forms a noble object. It is situated 

 on a rock of considerable elevation, and is about 

 three rriles in circumference : it is entered by two 

 gates ; you ascend to the higher by a steep approach, 

 paved with large flag stones, through pile of ruined 



house* lately destroyed in it* fray* between the 



Turks and Albanian*, till you arrive at tin- loot of 

 the wall*, Inch ;MI- lofty and Wrong. At a fortress, 

 however, 1 i chiefly calculated, tince the 



invention of gun-p-iwdcr, to overawe the town, be* 

 ing commanded by Mount Mokddd<-m, a range ot btr 

 ren and naked rock* in its vicinity. The French 

 engineers, according to Lord Valcntia, wished to 

 remedy this inconvenience by blowing up the com- 

 manding eminence, a dctign certaiiHy practicable 

 though of great labour ; but Bonaparte would not 

 consent to a measure which bad not originated with 

 himself. All traveller* agree in statiug the view 

 from the ram parti to be incomparably magnificent. 

 You survey the whole of Grand Cairo, with all itt 

 gardens, fountains, squares, palace*, mosques, aud 

 minaret*, stretched out at your feet, the ruins of Bou- 

 lac, the populous town of Postal, the grand aque- 

 duct, the broad majestic stream of the Nile iuter* 

 spcrsed with verdant island*, the village of Geza on 

 its opposite bank, and those eternal monuments of 

 human skill and folly the pyramids. Though at 

 least twelve miles off, the courses of stones of wbiek 

 the pyramids are composed, together with the head 

 of the sphinx rising out of the sand, are perfectly 

 distinguishable by the naked eye ; so enormously 

 great are these masses! 



The old and new citadels were formerly separate ; 

 but the French, having opened a communication 

 between them, in a great measure converted them 

 into one. All the objects of curiosity are contained 

 in the new. This fortress, in which there is a very- 

 handsome place d'armet, is divided into three part* ; 

 the first contains the pacha's palace, the second the 

 quarter of the Janissaries, and the third those of the 

 Azabs. The palace has little to recommend it but its 

 great size. Formerly it was splendidly ornamented, 

 when occupied by the sovereigns of Egypt ; but now 

 that it is intrusted to the Turkish pachas, who are 

 frequently changed, they take no interest in kcepmg 

 in repair this vast structure. They even no longer 

 reside in the citadel, but in a large house in the 

 town ; using only a ruinous apartment in the palace 

 as a divan, or council room. All the buildings in 

 this quarter are in ruins, except those connected with 

 its defence. The barracks of the Janissaries are very 

 strong, and resemble an old European fortress with 

 high walls and towers. 



This citadel contains several splendid remains of 

 antiquity. Near the quarter of the Azabs, is that 

 truly wonderful specimen of ancient art, Joseph's well. 

 This enormous pit, dug all the way through the 

 solid rock, is sunk to the depth of 276 feet. 

 the mouth, it is an oblong square of twenty- four feet 

 by eighteen ; being eighty-four feet in circumference; 

 which dimensions are regularly preserved to the depth 

 of 146 feet from the surface. Here is a stage or 

 floor in the well, from the middle of which, as it wre, 

 another well descends, of only fifteen feet by nine. 

 This second shaft is continued LSO feet more, still 

 through the rock, and terminates in the bed of gra- 

 vel on which the mountain reclines, beneath the level 

 of the Nile. A stair-case of gentle descent, cut in 

 the rock, winds round the p:t, with a thin partition 



Car.. 



