und the
moat to the entrance on the western side, consisting of a bridge and
double gateway. The fortress, as I have already stated, occupies the crest
of an elliptical mound, about one thousand feet by six hundred, and two
hundred feet in height. It is entirely encompassed by the city and forms a
prominent and picturesque feature in the distant view thereof. Formerly,
it was thickly inhabited, and at the time of the great earthquake of 1822,
there were three hundred families living within the walls, nearly all of
whom perished. The outer walls were very much shattered on that occasion,
but the enormous towers and the gateway, the grandest specimen of
Saracenic architecture in the East, still remain entire. This gateway, by
which we entered, is colossal in its proportions. The outer entrance,
through walls ten feet thick, admitted us into a lofty vestibule lined
with marble, and containing many ancient inscriptions in mosaic. Over the
main portal, which is adorned with sculptured lions' heads, there is a
tablet stating that the fortress was built by El Melek el Ashraf (the
Holiest of Kings), after which follows: "Prosperity to the True
Believers--Death to the Infidels!" A second tablet shows that it was
afterwards repaired by Mohammed ebn-Berkook, who, I believe, was one of
the Fatimite Caliphs. The shekh of the citadel, who accompanied us, stated
the age of the structure at nine hundred years, which, as nearly as I can
recollect the Saracenic chronology, is correct. He called our attention to
numbers of iron arrow-heads sticking in the solid masonry--the marks of
ancient sieges. Before leaving, we were presented with a bundle of arrows
from the armory--undoubted relics of Saracen warfare.

The citadel is now a mass of ruins, having been deserted since the
earthquake. Grass is growing on the ramparts, and the caper plant, with
its white-and-purple blossoms, flourishes among the piles of rubbish.
Since the late rebellion, however, a small military barrack has been
built, and two companies of soldiers are stationed there, We walked around
the walls, which command a magnificent view of the city and the wide
plains to the south and east. It well deserves to rank with the panorama
of Cairo from the citadel, and that of Damascus from the Anti-Lebanon, in
extent, picturesqueness and rich oriental character. Out of the gray ring
of the city, which incloses the mound, rise the great white domes and the
whiter minarets of its nume