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PICTORIAL MISCELLANY. 



by the elders of the family, engaged in smoking and chatting with 

 their neighbors. The houses are generally two or three stories high, 

 sometimes even four ; and when sufficiently large, enclose an open, 

 unpaved court, entered by a passage constructed with one or two 

 turnings. 



Formerly a Christian traveller found in a mosque would have 

 been guilty of sacrilege, and compelled to abjure his religion or lose 

 his life. Even now Christians are prohibited the entry of all Ma- 

 hometan places of worship, though, by adopting the dress of a native, 

 and distributing a few pieces of money, they can succeed. An 

 English traveller lately assumed the Turkish costume, and visited 

 several of the most remarkable mosques of Cairo, the interior of 

 which few travellers have beheld. He thus describes the 



MOSQUE OF SULTAN HASSAN. 



" This mosque is erected near the gate leading to the citadel. It 

 is exceedingly lofty, and its minarets, surpassing all others in height, 



