C A I 



219 



C A I 



Cairo get out for Mecca, under the orders of the sheik Bel. 

 i! let of Cairo. This high officer ha* in charge the 

 Uitlmess. p^gpnts of corn and money from the Grand Senior, 

 ~ ' t>>^etlit-r with the precious covering for the caaba. 

 After a period of one hundred days, this great cara- 

 van, to the number, on some occasions, of 100,000 

 souls, return in a body to the same place with tlie 

 choicest productions of the East. These consist 

 principally of coffee, perfumes, gum arabic, and 

 other drugs, the produce of Yemen, with spices 

 of Ceylon, shawls of Cashmirc, and muslins of 

 Surat and other parts of India. The same com- 

 modities are also brought by sea from Jedda to 

 Sue/., where near thirty vessels annually arrive in 

 May. There are, besides, many smaller caravans 

 to and from Cairo, particularly one in October, from 

 the neighbourhood of Mount Sinai. These Arabs 

 are extremely expert at adulterating their gum, which 

 they convey to the amount of 700 quintals, for which 

 reason they cannot be prevailed on to enter Cairo. 

 They encamp at a distance, and dispose of their goods 

 by barter, receiving arms, clothing, and other neces- 

 sary articles in return. The small caravans from Da- 

 maseus bring silk, cotton stuffs, and dried fruits. 

 Immense quantities of tobacco, which has become 

 one of the necessaries of life at Cairo, are constant- 

 ly landing at Damietta by vessels from Latikia, which 

 take in exchange cargoes of rice. The vessels from 

 Constantinople, which also return with grain, bring 

 clothing, wrought silks, furs, and arms, into the 

 port of Alexandria ; while those from Venice, Leg- 

 horn, and Marseilles, bring cloths, cochineal, Lyons 

 stuffs and laces, iron, lead, grocery, together with 

 Venetian sequins and German dollars, which are here 

 imported at a great profit. All these articles are con- 

 veyed in lighters, called djerms, to P osetta, whence 

 they are sent up the Nile to Grand Cairo. Not- 

 withstanding the excessive imposts, and the impolitic 

 exactions of the Mahometans, the commerce of Cairo 

 will appear, from the foregoing particulars, to be still 

 considerable : it is said to have amounted in 1783 to 

 between six and seven millions sterling. " There can 

 be no doubt but that the furious career of the Wa- 

 chabees in Arabia, has considerably affected the ex- 

 ternal relations of Cairo ; and from the bloody and 

 exterminating affrays which have within the last year 

 taken place there between the Turks and Beys, its 

 commerce at present must be very precarious. Cairo 

 stands in SO 2' 4-4-" N. Lat. and 31 IS' 16" E. Long, 

 about 59 geographical miles west of Suez. See the 

 Travels of Shaw, Pococke, Norden, Niebuhr, Sa- 

 vary, Volney, Bruce, Browne, Denon, Sonniui, Cha- 

 teaubriand, Lord Valentia, and The History of the 

 Revolt of Alt Bey. (E) 



CAISSON. See BRIDGE, Vol. IV. p. 525. 



CAITHNESS, sometimes called the shire of 

 Wick, is the most northern county of Scotland, and 

 is bounded on the north by the Pentland Frith, which 

 separates it from the islands of Orkney ; on the east 

 and south by the German ocean ; and by the county 

 of Sutherland on the west. Its form is an irregular 

 triangle, measuring from north to south about S5 

 miles, and 22 from east to west, and containing 690 

 square miles. The coast is rocky, aud indented with 

 a number of bay*, the principal of which are Scri- 



bister bay on the north west, and Rice bay on the Caiihmw* 

 east. Its promontories are Duncan's-bay-head, which ' 

 is the north ea*t |>omt of Caithness, and the extremal 

 promontory u> i ^jndside>head, Holborn-head, 



and Dtiniii-t head. The inland of Siruma, lying in 

 , now belong? to this county. Its 

 property was formerly disputed by the Earls of Ork- 

 ney and Caithness, but adjudged to the latter in 

 consequence of an experiment, by which it was found 

 that venomous animals would live in Strotna, whereas 

 they die immediately when transported to the Ork- 

 neys. 



The western part of the county is billy, and even 

 mountainous, and chiefly adapted for the rearing of 

 cattle and sheep ; but towards the east, it is almost 

 completely level, and watered with several small 

 rivers and lakes, but without a hill to shelter it from 

 thepiercing winds from the sea. 



The climate is very cold, and more rainy than al- 

 most any other ilace on the eastern coast of Scot- 

 land. The rains generally prevail in spring and au- 

 tumn, and sometimes do considerable damage to the 

 crops. The snow, however, seldom lies long on the 

 ground, from its proximity to the ocean ; but the 

 coldness of the weather during the spring month* is 

 a great bar to vegetation ; and in the interior of the 

 county, where the soil is rather tender, has a ten- 

 dency to engender a species of vermin called xtorte, 

 which destroy the young plants of barley and oats, 

 by cutting the roots below the ground. The 

 longest day in summer is about 18 hours ; and the 

 sun makes so small an arch below the horizon, that 

 the inhabitants enjoy a continued twilight from the 

 time he sets until he rises again. 



The soil of Caithness, particularly in the Low- 

 lands, is in general a mixture of clay, sand, and brown 

 earth or loam, from six to fifteen inches deep, with a 

 hard gravel, schistus, or horizontal rock, beneath, 

 which has a tendency to keep it always wet, and to 

 obstruct vegetation, especially that of trees. In point 

 of fertility, however, it is equal to any in the king- 

 dom in proportion to its depth, and produces plenti- 

 ful crops of barley and oats. The wheat husbandry 

 has been attempted in ome parts of the county, but 

 on the whole has not been found a profitable crop, 

 on account of the frequent and heavy rains which 

 fall in October, when the fanner is putting the seed 

 into the ground. Various kinds of green crops, 

 however, are cultivated with success, such as turnips, 

 clover, rye-grass, tares, cabbages, coleworts, <\ 

 and Mr Wright, in his Husbandry of North Britain, 

 has observed, that the richest second growth of clo- 

 ver he had any where seen, was on a farm cultivated 

 by Sir John Sinclair. Considerable improvements in 

 agriculture have been made within the last thirty 

 years, by the proprietors of this county. The wretch- 

 ed system of service, customs, and tithes, exacted 

 by the landlord from the tenants, is now abolished, 

 aud the rent of the land is paid in grain or money. 

 By the old mode of letting farms in Caithness, the 

 farmer, besides the payment of a stated rent, WM 

 bound to cultivate a certain portion of land in the 

 possession of the propnetor, by tilling, manuring, 

 and sowing it in proper season ; by cutting down, 

 gathering in, and securing the crop in the barn-yard; 



