the large towns for situations in the customs, and for the management of property belonging to the rich. M. Mengin reckons that there are about four thousand of this singular people resident in the dominions of Mohammed Ali, three thousand of whom inhabit a part of Cairo which bears the distinction of their name. The streets are so narrow as to be almost impassable; the houses are dark, crowded together, filthy, and so infectious, that when the plague breaks out, the first inquiry is, if it has appeared in the Jews' Quarter,*

There are about two thousand Arabians who reside principally in the capital, where they exercise every kind of trade, and are much concerned in money transactions with the government. The Greek Christians of Syria may be estimated at three thousand in Cairo, and one thousand in the other cities of Egypt. They were formerly the wholesale merchants who supplied the land proprietors and others with various kinds of articles, and were in general wealthy; but the monopoly of the viceroy has very considerably lessened their business and diminished their funds.

The spirit of improvement which distinguishes the reign of Mohammed has produced less change on the external appearance of Cairo than on the temper and views of its inhabitants. We have elsewhere stated that this celebrated city was founded in the tenth century by the first caliph of the Fatimite dynasty, and that the famous Saladin, about two hundred years afterward, built the ramparts with which it is surrounded, extending more than eighteen thousand yards in length. In ascending the Nile the traveller arrives first at Boulak, the port of the capital, where the vessels are moored that come from the coast. Farther south is Old Cairo, at which there is a harbour for the reception of the traders that descend from Upper Egypt. Between these two ancient towns is Cairo, properly so called, removed from the river about a mile and a half, and stretching towards the mountains of Mokattam on the east,—a distance of not less than three miles. It is encircled with a stone wall, surmounted by fine battlements, and fortified with lofty towers at every hundred paces. There are three or four

* Mengin, Histoire de l'Egypte; Malte Brun vol. iv; Malus, Memoire sur l'Egypte; Denon, tom. i. p. 88; Hasselquist, Voyage, p. 68,

beautiful gates built by the Mamlouks, and uniting a simple style of architecture with an air of grandeur and magnifi

cence.

But in this vast metropolis we find only one street, narrow and unpaved. The houses, like all others in Egypt, are badly built of earth or indifferent bricks, and are only distinguished by being two or three stories high. Lighted by windows looking into back-courts or quadrangles, they appear from the streets like so many prisons, though the general aspect is a little relieved by a number of large squares and many fine mosques. That of Sultan Hassan,

built at the bottom of the mountain on which the citadel is placed, is in the form of a parallelogram, and of great extent; a deep frieze goes all the way round the top of the wall, adorned with sculptures which we call Gothic, but which were introduced into Europe by the Arabians who invaded Spain.

Cairo is traversed by a canal which issues from the Nile a little below the old town, and having passed through immense and innumerable heaps of rubbish, enters the modern capital on the south side, goes out at the north, and winding round the wall makes a second entrance on the west, and terminates in the Birket-el-Esbequier. The outline of the city is nearly that of a quadrant, being square towards the north and east and circular towards the south and west. This artificial river is of the greatest consequence to the inhabitants; for, besides furnishing them while the inundation continues with an abundant supply of water for all the purposes of domestic life, it affords the means of replenishing a variety of small lakes, both inside and outside the walls, on which they ply their pleasure-boats, and enjoy a variety of other recreations suited to their indolent luxury or to the softness of their delicious climate. On the borders of these, especially within the town, may be seen in an evening fireworks pouring their light into the air, dancingdogs, dancing-monkeys, dancing-girls, and all the people making merry and rejoicing, as in the days of old when the Nile had attained its due elevation, and promised to bless their fields with an ample increase. In one of these sheets of water is observed the lotus,-that mysterious plant so highly esteemed by the ancient Egyptians, the flower of which contrasts so beautifully with the liquid ground on

which it reposes, as well as with the arid waste by which it is surrounded.

The citadel, which occupies part of the ridge of Mokattam, is a place of considerable strength, but, like most other ancient buildings in Egypt, greatly encumbered with ruins. The palace of the pasha is not worthy of notice on any other account than as being the residence of so distinguished a person when he chooses to live in his capital. It is a small house, plain, and without any exterior decoration, except that it has more glass-windows in front than Turkish dwellings usually exhibit. The Well of Joseph, in the middle of the fortress, calls us back to the twelfth century, the era of the renowned Saladin, by whom it was excavated, and whose name, Yousef, it continues to bear. It is about 45 feet in circumference at the top, and is dug through the soft calcareous rock to the depth of about 270 feet, where it meets a spring of brackish water on a level with the Nile, from which indeed it is derived,-owing its saline impregnation to the nature of the soil through which it has filtered. The water is raised in buckets by two wheels drawn by oxen, the one being on the surface of the ground, the other at the depth of 150 feet. The main use of this celebrated cistern,, besides partly supplying the garrison, is to irrigate the adjoining gardens, and keep alive the little verdure which adorns the interior of the fortress; but it is preserved in tolerable repair from the consideration, that were the place ever subjected to a siege, the stream of Joseph's Well would become the sole reliance of the troops as well as of the numerous inhabitants.

The memory of Saladin is farther associated with the citadel by means of a ruin called Joseph's Hall, and which is understood to have formed part of the palace of that warlike prince. The columns, it is manifest, have been taken from some more ancient building at Memphis, being generally monolithic, or consisting of a single stone, tall and massy, and adorned with highly-wrought capitals. In the days of Saracenic magnificence, this must have been a truly splendid edifice, meriting in some degree the praises bestowed upon the royal residences of that aspiring and ingenious people. But it is now in a very dilapidated condition, part being converted into a magazine, and part used as a granary; while the whole has such a waste and mournful

appearance, as to be, in truth, more desolate and less interesting than if it were a complete ruin.*

But, in describing Joseph's Hall, we apprehend that we have spoken of an architectural relic which no longer exists. In the year 1824 the citadel was much shaken by the explosion of a magazine; whence arose the necessity of a thorough repair in several of the remaining buildings of the fortress. Among the ruins pointed out for demolition were the surviving walls of Saladin's palace; on the site of which was about to be erected a square, meant probably for the better accommodation of the troops. The roof of this edifice, which might long have withstood the ravages of time, was very much admired. It was formed of a succession of little domes made of wood, into which were introduced concave circles containing octagons of blue and gold. The corners and arches of the buildings were carved in the best Saracenic manner, and in many places the colours and gilding continued perfectly bright.

Cairo, although it cannot boast of an origin so ancient as that of Thebes, nor of a mythology which connected the present life so closely with the next, has nevertheless a city of tombs, a Necropolis on which has been lavished much treasure combined with a certain portion of architectural taste. The desert towards the east is studded with sepulchres and mausoleums, some of which produce a very striking effect. As every Turk throughout the empire, from the grand signior to the meanest peasant, is compelled to be of some profession; and as every calling has its peculiar headdress, which is represented on a pole at the grave of the deceased,―a burial-place in a Moslem country has necessarily a singular appearance. The celebrated tombs of the Mamlouks are going fast to decay, their boasted magnificence being now limited to a gilt inscription; but, in order that the reader may be enabled to form a judgment as to their grandeur in former days, we insert a drawing taken from the splendid work on Egypt published by the imperial government of France.

The cemetery of the pasha is the most sumptuous of modern structures in the Necropolis of Cairo. It is a vaulted stone building, consisting of five domes, under

* Richardson, vol. i. p. 48.