18 
mats, very mucti worn, which they were occupied in 
changing for others of the same kind whilst I was 
there. Having particularly asked the Scheiks, and 
other persons, where the carpets were which had 
adorned the mosque of the Azahar, they all assured 
me that there had never been any other sort of cover- 
ing to the floor of it than that which I saw; because 
many poor, and beggars, are in the habit of going to 
sleep in the mosque, wrapped up in the mats, as I 
have often seen them myself; and the vermin which 
they leave in them is killed by means of washing them 
in water, which could not be done were there carpets. 
It gives me pain to contradict Brown, who is a travel- 
ler I esteem very much, on account of his bold journey 
to Darfour. I would gladly think and hope that his 
travels into the interior of Africa do not contain the 
same inaccuracies w T hich he has made use of in speak- 
ing of Egypt. 
The mosque El Azahar, in the environs of which 
the principal Scheiks of Cairo reside, is much fre- 
quented by the Mogrebins, or people of the west, who 
commonly go there to pray in preference to any other. 
It is in this mosque that the counsellors of Kadi as- 
semble, as also the principal learned men, to deliver 
their lectures, or to expound the law; for which pur- 
pose they divide themselves into several circles, each 
one taking its particular station, in this vast building. 
The mosque which is most frequented by the devout 
is named El Hazaneinn, where they worship the re- 
mains of a grandson of the Prophet. It is of the same 
form as the others; but it has a square chapel, sur- 
mounted with a very fine cupola. In this chapel is the 
head of St. Sidi, in a sarcophagus, which I imagine to 
be of wood, like all those of our saints. It is an object 
