ttom in intricate designs, and ornamented with
odd little plaques of fretted bronze; the sacred niche was lined with
alabaster, turquoise, and gleaming mother-of-pearl; the only light came
through the thick glass of the small windows far above, in
downward-falling rays of crimson, violet, and gold. The old mosaic-work
of the Cairo mosques is composed of small plates of marble and of
mother-of-pearl arranged in geometrical designs; the delicacy of the
minute cubes employed, and the intricacy of the patterns, are
marvellous; the color is faint, unless turquoise has been added; but the
glitter of the mother-of-pearl gives the whole an appearance like that
of jewelry. Upon our departure five blind men were found drawn up in a
line at the door. It would not have been difficult to collect fifty.

[Illustration: TOMB-MOSQUE OF KAIT BEY]

Another day, as my donkey was taking me under a stone arch, I saw on one
side a flight of steps which seemed to say "Come!" At the top of the
steps I found a picture. It was a mosque of the early pattern, with a
large square court open to the sky. In the centre of this court was a
well, under a marble dome, and here grew half a dozen palm-trees. Across
the far end extended the sanctuary, which was approached through arcades
of massive pillars painted in dark red bands. The pulpit was so old that
it had lost its beauty; but the entire back wall of this Mecca side
was covered with beautiful tiles of the old Cairo tints (turquoise-blue
and dark blue), in designs of foliage, with here and there an entire
tree. This splendid wall was in itself worth a journey. A few single
tiles had been inserted at random in the great red columns, reminding
one of the majolica plates which tease the eyes of those who care for
such things--set impossibly high as they are--in the campaniles of old
Italian churches along the Pisan coast.

It may be asked, What is the shape of a mosque--its exterior? What is it
like? You are more sure about this shape before you reach the Khedive's
city than you are when you have arrived there; and after you have
visited three or four mosques each day for a week, the clearness of your
original idea, such as it was, has vanished forever. The mosques of
Cairo are so embedded in other structures, so surrounded and pushed and
elbowed by them, that you can see but little of their external form;
sometimes a facade painted in stripes is visible, but often a doorway is
all. One must except