72 GRAND CAIRO. 
CHAP. Upon the following day, Thursday, August the 
_■ thirteenth, we again visited the Reis Effendi; 
who promised us an escort to the Pyramids, 
and said that a day should be appointed for our 
presentation to the Fizir, at this time in Cairo. 
Jewel Afterward, we visited the bazars, expecting to 
Market. i c 
obtain from the jewellers' shops of this city some 
of the precious minerals of the East, at a rea- 
sonable rate. Not even a single specimen, 
worth notice, could be procured. The French 
had bought up almost every thing; and per- 
haps the frequent disturbances, in the city, had 
caused the concealment of every valuable com- 
modity. Among the goldsmiths we found only 
two antique intaglio gems; and a few medals of 
very little value ; such as large copper coins ot 
the Ptolemies. The cotton shawls manufactured 
in England would find a ready sale in this place. 
They asked two hundred piastres even for old 
turbans which had been mended. In the fruit- 
market we saw fresh dates, some very fine 
grapes, and peaches. Sausages were dressed, 
and sold hot in the streets, as in London: but 
characters are so little legible, that the author could not succeed in 
copying them. But there is a manifest difference between an oppor- 
tunity offered for this purpose, when exposed to the heat of an open 
court at Cairo in the middle of August, and such an examination of 
the surface of the stone as might take place in a milder climate, 
with leisure for the undertaking. 
