l46 DESCRIPTIONS OF EGYPT. 
or private edifices which display the genius of the 
architect, none of those regular squares or uni- 
form streets which mark the taste of a polished 
people ; but, amid the confused multitude of 
houses, it attempts in vain to trace the direction 
of the streets, which are crooked and narrow. 
Vacant spaces appear at intervals, which are lakes 
at the inundation of the Nile, and gardens during 
the rest of the year. In September, the natives 
sail over the ground which in April is covered 
with flowers and verdure. The city is surround- 
ed by a multitude of tombs ; it is without a pave- 
ment, OTd without walls ; and the rubbish which 
has Accumulated during a series of ages, rises in 
hillocks around it. The lofty minarets of the 
numerous mosques, are the only objects which 
interrupt the uniformity of the flat and terraced 
roofs. The houses, which consist of two or three 
stories, are for the most part composed of earth 
aiTd brick, though, in some instances, a soft spe- 
cies of stone, of a fine 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 upoii a steep and inaccessible rock, 
is about a quarter of a league in circumference, 
surrounded by strong walls, but commanded by 
the adjacent mountain. The two great suburte 
