lves, on setting sail, to the protection of
Providence, by reciting altogether, in a low voice, the short prayer of
the _Fathah_, or opening chapter of the Koran. "The sight of the Muslim
engaged in his devotions is, I think, most interesting; the attitudes are
particularly striking and impressive; and the solemn demeanour of the
worshipper, who, even in the busy market-place, appears wholly abstracted
from the world, is very remarkable. The practice of praying in a public
place is so general in the East, and attracts so little notice from
Muslims, that we must not regard it as the result of hypocrisy or
ostentation."

As the kanjeh lay to at night to avoid danger from sand-banks, the
travellers were three days in reaching Cairo; and found little to interest
them in the contemplation of the banks of the Nile, which at this season
are destitute of the brilliant verdure which clothes them for some time
after the inundation. On arriving at Boulak, the authoress for the first
time shrouded herself in the cumbrous folds of a Turkish riding-dress, "an
overwhelming covering of black silk, extending, in my idea, in every
direction;" and mounted on a donkey, she followed her janissary guide
through the dilapidated suburb, "and at length we fairly entered Cairo....
The first impression on entering this celebrated city is, that it has the
appearance of having been deserted for perhaps a century, and suddenly
re-peopled by persons, unable, from poverty or some other cause, to repair
it, and clear away its antiquated cobwebs.... I wrote to you that the
streets of Alexandria were narrow; they are _wide_ compared to those of
Cairo. The _meshreebeyehs_, or projecting windows, facing each other above
the ground floor, literally touch in _some_ instances, and in _many_, the
opposite windows are within reach.... After passing through several of the
streets, into which it appeared as though the dwellings had turned out
nearly all their inhabitants, we arrived at an agreeable house in the
midst of gardens, in which we are to take up our temporary residence."

The plan of these gardens, however, intersected by parallel walks, with
gutters on each side to convey water into the intermediate squares, was so
much at variance with Mrs Poole's English notions of horticulture, that
she was almost tempted to conclude, "that a garden in Egypt was not worth
cultivation--so much for national prejudice!" As it was indispensable for
the health of the chi