n use before the
opening of the Suez Canal. Cairo occupies a length of 5 m. on the east bank
of the Nile, stretching north from the old Roman fortress of Babylon, and
covers an area of about 8 sq. m. It is built partly on the alluvial plain
of the Nile valley and partly on the rocky slopes of the Mokattam hills,
which rise 550 ft. above the town.

The citadel, which is built on a spur of the Mokattam hills, occupies the
S.E. angle of the city. The prospect from the ramparts of this fortress is
one of striking picturesqueness and beauty. Below lies the city with its
ancient walls and lofty towers, its gardens and squares, its palaces and
its mosques, with their delicately-carved domes and minarets covered with
fantastic tracery, the port of Bulak, the gardens and palace of Shubra, the
broad river studded with islands, the valley of the Nile dotted with groups
of trees, with the pyramids on the north horizon, and on the east the
barren cliffs, backed by a waste of sand. Since the middle of the 19th
century the city has more than doubled in size and population. The newer
quarters, situated near the river, are laid out in the fashion of French
cities, but the eastern parts of the town retain, almost unimpaired, their
Oriental aspect, and in scores of narrow, tortuous streets, and busy
bazaars it is easy to forget that there has been any change from the Cairo
of medieval times. Here the line of fortifications still marks the eastern
limits of the city, though on the north large districts have grown up
beyond the walls. Neither on the south nor towards the river are there any
fortifications left.

_Principal Quarters and Modern Buildings._--From the citadel a straight
road, the Sharia Mehemet Ali, runs N. to the Ezbekia (Ezbekiyeh) Gardens,
which cover over 20 acres, and form the central point of the foreign
colony. North and west of the Ezbekia runs the Ismailia canal, and on the
W. side of the canal, about half a mile N. of the Gardens, is the Central
railway station, approached by a broad road, the Sharia Clot Bey. The Arab
city and the quarters of the Copts and Jews lie E. of the two streets
named. West of the Ismailia canal lies the Bulak quarter, the port or
riverside district. At Bulak are the arsenal, foundry and railway works, a
paper manufactory and the government printing press, founded by Mehemet
Ali. A little distance S.E. of the Ezbekia is the Place Atabeh, the chief
point of intersection of the electric tramway