l8 TRAVELS IN rpPER 



Another work of the Arabs, which is, nowever, 

 remarkable for its beautiful construction and its 

 boldness, indeed the only one worth seeing in the 

 ancient city of Cairo, is the aqueduct which con- 

 veys the water of the Nile into the castle. It is 

 supported by three hundred and fifty arcades nar- 

 row and very high. The water is conveyed thi- 

 ther by a chain-pump v/ith four wheels, which i$ 

 moved by oxen. 



In front of ancient Cairo, the Nile leaves in the 

 middle of its bed an island about five hundred 

 paces broad, on which is built the mekk'iaSy that is 

 to say, measure. It is there, in fact, that on the 

 graduations of a pillar the increase of the water is 

 measured, and after these observations, public 

 criers go about the streets of Cairo proclaiming 

 the successive heights of the water, the promise 

 of fertility and abundance. It is thought that 

 this nilometer was built by the Arabs. The 

 island is called Roiuida, or gardenSy because, in 

 fact, it is laid out in gardens, and inhabited only 

 by gardeners. 



On the opposite side of the isle Roiidda, the 

 town of Glzah extends itself on the western shore 

 of the Nile. The numerous date-trees which sur- 

 round it, among which the lofty turrets of its 

 mosques mingle themselves, the river, whose 



\yaves 



