THE SILK-MERCERS’ BAZAAR OF EL-GHOOREEYEH, CAIRO. 
This Bazaar is so called from the mosque and tomb of the Sultan El-Choree, which 
are situated on either side of the Bazaar. On the left the porch appears, which 
leads to the collegiate mosque; and on the right, that by which the sepulchral mosque 
is entered, flights of steps lead to each; and the porches are very handsome: they 
are usually the most enriched parts of these edifices below the minarets. Sometimes 
coloured marbles are profusely used, here they are black and white, and display 
rich and intricate arabesques, and inscriptions from the Koran in Kufic characters, 
and the walls are agreeably coloured with horizontal stripes of red and white: nightly 
burning lamps are suspended over the entrances of these portals, which serve as 
places of refuge for the destitute, and hundreds of houseless wretches sleep beneath 
them. 
These mosques of the Sultan El-Ghoree were completed a.d. 1503, and are examples 
of the latest of the religious monuments of the Sultans of Egypt, as the mosque 
of Tooloon is of the earliest; for the successor of El-Ghoree, Toman Bey, who 
was hung by order of the Sultan Selim, closed the dynasty. 
The actual situation of this Bazaar is between the walls of these two mosques, 
which finish at the top with a trefoil sort of battlement whereon rafters rest, with 
props to support the wooden roof, that at a great height covers the Bazaar, admitting 
light enough, but sheltering it from the rays of the sun. Each Bazaar is generally 
appropriated to a particular class of merchandise, and this, the chief in Cairo, for 
the sale of rich silks, cottons, and embroidered stuffs, some wrought in gold-thread 
and other costly materials; and the articles to be bought here are the most splendid 
productions of this class. The Bazaars of Cairo, as in all Eastern cities, are confined 
to streets and passages, which are closed at night by wooden doors and a chain, and 
guarded by watchmen: they are, however, by day the gayest and most amusing 
parts of the city. Here the shopkeeper rests on a sort of dais, or shopboard, about 
three feet above the footway, his goods being kept in recesses behind him. He 
generally sits cross-legged and patient, awaiting the arrival of a customer; he uses 
little art to induce him to purchase; he sits in solemn silence, and will scarcely 
remove his pipe from his lips to answer the inquiries of the passers-by; but a Frank, 
and especially an Englishman, if habited in Eastern costume, of whom he can and 
does ask more than four times the value of an article, will often excite him to acts 
of courteous attention, and a pipe and coffee are presented during the negotiation. 
On certain days, a peripatetic set of auctioneers, called dellcils, strikingly contrast 
their animation with the apathetic dealers, for they force their way amidst the crowd, 
showing their articles on sale, screaming in their praise, and shouting the amount 
of the biddings. 
