GRAND CAIRO. HI 
from the pompous descriptions of Arabian chap. 
writers; who, having never seen any thing finer > 
than Cairo, speak of it as the " Wonder of the 
world" the " Delight of the imagination," "the 
Great among the great," the Holy City ^. Irt fact, 
it may be said of Cairo, as of Egypt in general, 
that it has always been the subject of amplifica- 
tion, from the earliest periods of its history'. 
We often visited the book-market, and observed Book 
nothing more remarkable than the number of 
beautiful manuscripts constantly offered for 
sale*. We purchased many of these manuscripts. 
Writings of any celebrity bear very high prices, 
especially famous works in History, Astronomy, 
Geography, and Natural History. The Mama- 
lukes are more fond of reading than the Turks; 
and some of their libraries, in Cairo, contained 
volumes valued at immense prices. The French 
(2) See Z)«ww's Trav. vol.1, p. 103, Lond. 1S03. 
(3) " I never saw a place I liked worse, nor which afforded less 
pleasure or instruction, than Cairo; nor antiquities whicli less an- 
swered their descriptions." Bruce's Travels, vol. I. p. 33. Edinb. 
1790. 
(4) A Catalogue, published in the /Jppendix to the First Section of 
this Part of our Travels, will serve to render the great variety of 
works in Oriental literature, which are upon daily sale in the cities of 
XheEast, more known than it has hitherto been. See Vol. III. Ap- 
pendix, No. III. Octavo edition. 
