DESCRIPTIONS OF EGYPT. 
grain, is employed. As they receive no light from 
the streets, while the windows, even of the inner 
courts, are of small size, and few in number, they 
are, for the most part, dark and gloomy as prisons. 
The castle of Cairo, situated upon a steep and in- 
accessible rock, is about a quarter of a league in 
circumference, surrounded by strong walls, but 
commanded by the adjacent mountain. The two 
great suburbs of Cairo, which may with propriety 
be reckoned detached towns, are Bulac and Fostat, 
which is likewise denominated Misr Elattike, the 
Ancient Misr, or Old Cairo, Bulac, the port of 
Cairo, is a long irregular town, on the western 
branch of the Nile. Fostat, or OldCairo, is the port 
of Upper Egypt, and situated on the eastern bank 
of the Nile, near the site of the ancient Babylon. 
On the western bank of the river, Giza; formerly 
a suburb of Fostat, is situated. Cairo lies in N. 
L. 30° 3', and E. Long. 31° 
Fostat was founded in the twentieth year of the 
Hegira, by Amrou the conqueror of Egypt, on the 
place where he pitched his camp, before advancing 
to the siege of Alexandria. According to El nia- 
cin, it derived its name from the tent of the Ara- 
bian general, which he left in the spot where it 
had been pitched, that he might not destroy the 
young of a pigeon that had formed its nest in it. 
The origin of Grand Cairo is comparatively mo- 
dern. It was founded in the year 969, by Jauhar, 
