112 SOIOPTICON MANUAL. 



as hazardous as going on foot. The streets of Cairo are 

 watered several times a day, and are nearly always cool 

 and free from dust. 



FERRY AT OLD CAIRO. Old Cairo is situated about two 

 miles from modern Cairo. The wonderful clearness and 

 brilliancy of the Eastern atmosphere; the absence of 

 smoke, charcoal alone being burned ; the picturesque 

 effect of the ruin into which many of its great monu- 

 ments are falling; the rich, green valley of the Nile; the 

 river; the Pyramids in the distance; and the fading 

 of the landscape into the boundless haze of the Lybian 

 desert, constitutes a scene which, for splendor and inter- 

 est, is perhaps unequaled in the world. The taste for 

 gaudy and fantastic coloring has been for ages a distin- 

 guishing feature of Eastern embellishment. The alter- 

 nate red and white stripe is conspicuous on the sails of 

 the ferry boats, which are constantly passing back and 

 forth between Cairo and the island of Ehoda opposite. 

 Here we have a group of Arabs from the desert, with 

 their camels, dealers in oranges, vegetables, sugar-cane, 

 &c. For picturesqueness of costume, there is nothing 

 like the East; the flow of the drapery so simple and 

 natural, the coloring so deep and brilliant. 



TOMBS OP THE MEMLOOK KINGS AT CAIRO. These 

 tombs are fine specimens of Saracenic architecture, and 

 were erected in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. 



PYRAMIDS. The Pyramids of Gizeh, three in number, 

 are situated about eight miles from Cairo, and should be 

 visited by the tourist before entering on his river cruise. 

 They stand on a ridge of stone, which has been so cut as 

 to form part of the basement. The great Pjo-amid is 

 mainly composed of blocks of limestone brought from the 



