re we listen
to the guide who relates the daring feats of the Mamelukes. To see the
sun set from this point is one of the pleasures that Cairo affords. Here
is a fortress, where Ramises II detained his Assyrian captives, when the
Roman legion under Caesar held Egypt. The vile, stuffy smells that greet
you on entering are appalling, and the ragged children eaten up by
vermin, and afflicted by sore eyes rub against you. You enter the Coptic
church of the Virgin Mary; partitions in woodwork separate three naves.
Mother of pearl and ivory inlaid work decorate the interior, but it was
so dark the beauties were lost to me, but we are not insensible to the
vile uncleanliness, for that is paramount. We are taken to the banks of
the Nile, shown the ancient Nile meter, and the exact spot where Moses
was found in the bulrushes. From all this we turn with weary steps to
the university, where scholars from the extreme north, south, and those
who scarcely know from whence they came, are here to study the four
rites taught from the Koran. They board at the Mosque and also receive a
small allowance and oil for their lamps. Gathered together in circles,
holding their tablets in their hands, lying or sitting on their mats
covering the ground, they learn by heart verses from the Koran, which
they recite aloud in a drawling voice, swinging the body, as is peculiar
to the Orientals. A special fund is raised from pious fanatics for the
support of the blind who become scholars, no less fanatic than their
teachers.

Another day for the museums at Boulah to be taken before, and after
going up the Nile. From its terrace the views are splendid. The
supporting walls bathe in the Nile, where multitudes of vessels lie side
by side. Across the desert come caravans from Abyssinia, with coffee and
incense from Arabia; pearls, precious stones, cassimeres and silks from
India.

In dahabehis from Esneh come ivories, ostrich feathers, acacia gum,
nitre from Kenner, boats loaded with pottery of porous earth, in which
to keep the water of the Nile in amphorae (large earthen jugs) in all
sizes. Edfou sends its pipes, vases of red clay and black. Barges filled
with indigo, cotton and barley, dahabehis of carpets and woolen stuffs
with flagons of rose water. From the North come rice, maize and Syrian
tobacco; draperies from Aleppo, Smyrna and Damascus; dried grapes from
the mountains of Karamania; soap from the isles of the Archipelagos, and
in the midst of a