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| Cairo |
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Source:
Picturesque Palestine, vol. 4, p. 134. |
Sebil, or Street
Fountain
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Cairo is still the ideal city of the Arabian Nights. We can still shut our eyes
to the hotels and restaurants, the dusty grass-plots, and tawdry villa
residences of the modern bricklayer's paradise, and turn away to wander in the
labyrinth of narrow lanes which intersect the old parts of the city, just as
they did in the days of the Memlūk sultans. And as we thread the winding alleys,
where a thin streak of sky marks the narrow space between the lattice-windows of
the overhanging upper stories, and dive under a camel here, or retreat into a
recess there, to escape what seems imminent death at the feet of the advancing
and apparently impassable crowd of beasts of burden, camels, asses, and horses,
laden or ridden, we may fancy ourselves in the gateway of 'Aly of Cairo . . . .
A few streets away from the European quarter it is easy to dream that we are
acting a part in the veracious history of the Thousand and One Nights-which do,
in fact, describe Cairo and its people and life as they were in the fifteenth
century, and as, to a great degree, they are still. (Source:
Picturesque Palestine, vol. 4, p. 136.) |
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Valley of the Nile and Pyramids |
Source:
Picturesque Palestine, vol. 4, p. 149. |
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The Citadel is not worth seeing for itself
so much as for the view . . . which spreads
before the eye as one stands at sunset on its
battlemented wall. Below lies the city with
its countless domes and minarets-Sultan Hasan
in the foreground-its wilderness of irregular
tumble-down yellow and white flat-roofed
houses, interspersed with many a garden and
the dark foliage of the sycamores; beyond, a
fringe of palms and a streak of silver show
where the broad Nile rolls sleepily on between
its brown banks. To the right, the huge dome
and handsome minarets of El-Muayyad stand out
prominently from among their fellows; beyond
these the minarets of the Nahhāsīn; and at the
end the two queer-shaped mebkharehs of El-Hākim.
To the left is the enormous court of
Ibn-Tūlūn's mosque, and its strange minaret
then the billowy mounds of Fustāt; and in the
distance, against the ridge that terminates
the Libyan desert, in the carmine glory of the
setting sun, stand the everlasting Pyramids,
"like the boundary-marks of the mighty waste,
the Egyptian land of shades." (Source:
Picturesque Palestine, vol. 4, p. 158.) |
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Source:
Picturesque Palestine, vol. 4, p.
156. |
On the Canal (El Khalig)
This is El-Khalīg, or "the Canal" par
excellence . . . which divides Cairo
longitudinally from north-east to south-west
into two strongly contrasted portions. West of
the canal and next the Nile, the de-forming
touch of the khedivial bricklayer has ruined
everything. East of the canal the old Muslim
city of the Fātimis still retains its
picturesque character . . . .Of the canal
itself, it maybe remarked en passant that,
though it is a favourite subject for Cairene
poets, and the inhabitants love to smoke their
pipes and enjoy their "keyf" or siesta in the
houses and terraces overlooking it, and
drowsily listen to the murmur of the
water-wheel . . . it is only pretty during
four months when the Nile fills it, while for
the rest of the year "bright Khaleega" is a
gutter of mud and a home for noisome smells.
The people, however, are so fond of this
unwholesome drain that no ruler dares risk his
popularity by converting it into a street,
though that is, undoubtedly, its proper
destiny. (Source:
Picturesque Palestine, vol. 4, p. 161-162.) |
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Cairo from the Citadel |
Source:
Earthly Footsteps of the Man of Galilee, p. 43. |
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From the citadel a fine view is to be
enjoyed. Just below are the arsenal, the
Rumeleh--a beautiful public square, the fine
mosque of Sultan Hassan, the numerous minarets
of Cairo, the ancient wind mills, the distant
pyramids, and the green plain through which
the Nile winds toward the sea. Miss Martineau
says: "I would entreat any stranger to see
this view, especially in the evening before
sunset, when the beauty of it is beyond
description. The vastness of the city as it
lies stretched below surprises every one. It
looks a perfect wilderness of flat roofs,
cupolas and minarets, with an open space here
and there, presenting the complete front of a
mosque, gay groups of people and moving
camels--a relief to the eye, though so
diminished by distance." It is rarely a
traveler enjoys a prospect so varied and
charming. (Source: Earthly Footsteps of the Man of Galilee, p. 43.) |
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See
Citadel
of Cairo,
Festival
of Mah'mal,
Giza
Pyramids and Sphinx, or
Memphis |
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