8o TRAVELS IN AFRICA, 
Aiitlent Arabic books, fome of them in the Kiiphic cha- 
racter, have been recently difcovered here, in a cellar, under 
lock and key, and inclofed in a fycamore cheft. Some of them 
are on vellum, and very beautiful. Such a number was found 
as filled a very large cheft. Murad Bey, being informed that 
treafures were hid under the antient mofque, had recourfe to 
the finelTe of pretending to rebuild it ; he did rebuild part of a 
wall ; and the cellar and books were difcovered in clearing the 
foundations. 
From the convent of St. George, one diftinguifties clearly 
on the weft the ruins of an antient city, afcertained to have 
been the Babylon built by the Perfians. They conftitute merely 
a heap of rubbifh, already defcribed by former travellers. 
Foftat is a long ftreet, running parallel to the river, and 
occupying part of the fpace between Kahira and its bank. It 
nearly joins Mifr-el-Attike on the South. 
Bulak is a large irregular town, which has gradually rifen 
around the place of embarkation. It is marked by an extenfive 
and convenient okal, built by Ali Bey the Great, and called 
the Alexandrian okal, being chiefly ufed for goods brought 
from that city. Gardens, filling the fertile grounds between 
the houfes, and betwixt Bulak and Kahira, afford an ample 
fupply of fruits and vegetables. Boats croud the river at 
Bulak, which is the port of Lower Egypt, as Mifr-el-Attike is 
of the Upper. 
An 
