410 NOETH-EAST APEICA. 



pour forth their Arab, Negro, Abyssinian, Beja, Somali, and Nubian denizens on 

 the public squares and into the great plain near the suburb of Bulaq, where the 

 sheikh of the dervishes passes on horseback over a layer of human bodies. The 

 noble animal resists at first, but the bridle being held by two slaves, he is forced to 

 follow them over this carpet of living flesh. The presence of English troops sum- 

 moned to take part in this feast in the year 1884 served to remind the Mussulmans 

 that henceforth the city of Amru was in the hands of the infidel. 



The most remarkable monuments of Cairo are its mosques and tombs. Of the 

 four hundred sacred edifices scattered over the city, some are amongst the very 

 finest in the Mohammedan world. The mosque of Tulun, which formed part of the 

 Testât settlement before the foundation of Cairo, although falling to ruins, still pre- 

 serves the beauty imparted by the noble simplicity of the original plan — a large 

 open court surrounded on three sides by a double peristyle and leading to a sanctuary 

 with four aisles and pointed arcades built of date wood. Unfortunately the galleries, 

 decorated with charming arabesques, have been closed up and converted into mean 

 refuges for the sick and insane. 



Sultan Hassan's mosque, the finest in Cairo, and indicated from a distance by 

 its lofty minaret, is threatened, like that of Tulun, with total destruction. At 

 sight of the tottering windows of its high outer walls the visitor almost hesitates 

 to enter the court where the cool fountains still spatter, or to cross the threshold 

 of the sanctuary and lateral aisles beneath the vast porticos tenanted by flocks of 

 birds. 



The El-Azhar, or "Flowery" mosque, was also originally a simple court enclosed 

 by porticos. But to the primitive structure have been added numerous other 

 buildings, for El-Azhar is now at once a university, a library, a hostelry for 

 studious travellers, a blind asylum, and a refuge for the poor. The roof of 

 the sanctuary is supported by 380 marble, granite, and porphyry columns, 

 some of which formerly embellished the Roman temples in Egypt. E-ound the 

 court the colonnades are reserved for students, who are here grouped according to 

 their several nationalities. From Marocco to India, from the Niger to the Oxus, 

 all the peoples of Islam are represented in this university, which claims to be the 

 oldest in the world. As many as twelve thousand students, exclusive of the free 

 attendants, here study the Koran, jurisprudence, mathematics, and the Arabic 

 language, under the direction of two hundred professors. In the Riivâk, or group 

 of buildings disposed round the aisles, there are also about a dozen preparatory 

 schools, each with thirty or forty scholars, besides a special school for the blind.* 



Another mosque, that of Sultan Kalâun, is almost entirely utilised as a mad- 

 house. That of Mohammed Ali, situated within the citadel, is certainly a very 

 sumptuous edifice, with its transparent alabaster pillars and pavement ; but its 

 very wealth of ornamentation serves only to illustrate the bad taste of its builder. 



* Students registered at El-Azhar in 1883 . . . 12,025 . Professors, 216 



„ of the Shafeh rite 500 . „ 100 



„ „ Malekitp rite 4,000 . „ 74 



„ „ Hanefite rite 1,500 . „ 37 



„ ,, Hambalite rite ..... 25 . „ 1 



