CAIRO, 
145 
This was probably the river Ptolemaeus of Pliny, 
that passed by Arsinoe, arid was denominated 
Cleopatris by Strabo. From the circuitous direc- 
tion of this line of inland navigation, the voyage, 
according to Herodotus, occupied the space of 
font days. The canal s^ems never to have con- 
tinued permanently open for any considerable 
space of* time, but to hstve been restored at inter- 
vals by different princes j and hence a confusion 
in the various relations of historians, has been 
produced. Cairo, the capital of Egypt^ which 
the natives denominate Misr, the Mistress of the 
World, and Misr without an equal, is situated on 
thfe eastern side of the Nile, which it touches by 
its suburbs Fostat and Bulac. Though the ex- 
tent of Caird, its vast population, and the diver- 
sity of dress, language, manners, and features 
which its inhabitants exhibit, cannot fail to pro* 
duce a powerful impression upon the mind of an 
European ; yet this impression cannot be com- 
pared with the idea of its ancient glory, when it 
was the metropolis of Africa, the second capital 
of the east, the scene of the wonders of Arabian 
romance, and of the real incidents of Arabian his- 
tory, scarcely more credible than those of Orien- 
tal fiction. From the castle of Cairo, founded on 
Mount Mokattam, the eye, at one view, com- 
mands a prospect of the immense crescent which 
the city forms. It surveys none of those public 
VOL, IIo K 
