a sense, every street, almost every house, affords material for a study. But there are certain remains which can be usefully considered in groups. The first and most important of these groups, both intrinsically and because it offers a tolerably complete chain of historical sequence, is the mosques; and these, with the exception of the mosques of Mohammed Ali and El-Azhar, I shall reserve for a separate chapter. Second is the group of military constructions, which includes the gates of the town walls of the Fatimite period and the Citadel of Saladin. Third, there are two or three buildings which do not come under either of these heads, but which possess an interest either individually or because they are typical of the class to which they respectively belong. Lastly, there are the mingled remains of Babylon and Fostât, which are distinguished as Masr el-Atíka, or Old Cairo.

CHAPTER VI

MEDIEVAL CAIRO

The Citadel-Built by Saladin-Massacre of the Mameluke Beys-Joseph's Well-The mosque of Mohamined Ali-Esthetic value of the interiorView of Cairo from the Citadel-Chief streets and buildings of mediæval Cairo-The three gates-El-Futûh-En-Nasr-Ez-Zuwêleh-The Kâdî's House-Reform of the religious courts-A caravanserai-Origin of the Bazaars of Cairo-Nâssîri Krosrau's account of the industries of mediæval Cairo-The influence of Persia on Arabic craftsmanship-The Mosque elAzhar-Condition of the Mohammedan University of Cairo-Signs of reform-"Old Cairo "-The ruins of the Roman station at Babylon-The Coptic Church of Mâri Girgis-Coptic influence on Arabian art—The Mosque of Amr-The site of Fostât-Cairo at sunset.

WE made our way to the Citadel on the first morning that was at our disposal after we had reached Cairo. We had been told that the best way of getting a general idea of the city and its surroundings, was to climb to the battlements of Saladin's fortress, and gaze upon the view which they afforded. Our early days in Cairo had been occupied with social matters, which kept us in the European quarters, and we had as yet seen little or nothing that was characteristic of the Arabian capital of Egypt; but now, as we passed up the slight incline where the long street of Mohammed Ali joins the Rumêleh Square, we found walls on either side of us so vast that we craned our necks in vain to catch sight of their crests. To the left was the massive shell of the unfinished Rifaiyeh mosque, which covers the family burial-place of the ex-Khedive Ismail; to the right the titanic flank of its vast original, the ancient fane and tomb of Sultan Hasan. For the first time we felt that we were in Cairo-in a centre of El-Islâm equal in significance to Constantinople, Damascus, and Morocco. As we entered the square, the Citadel

spread itself before us. Above the towers and battlements of the fortress of the mountain," raised by Saladin's faithful minister, the eunuch Bohar ed-Din, seven centuries ago, a great dome rose easily from a square mass of grey stone, between two slender minarets. The giant bulk of the fortress, gateway, walls, battlements, and towers, stood plain in the clear light; but the

BAB EL-AZAB.

dome and the minarets of Mohammed Ali's mosque were veiled in a blue haze, which seemed to lift them into the sky above our heads.

We ascended the curving stairs which led to the gate ElAzab, and passing beneath its vaulted roof climbed to the central space, the summit of the spur, around which the buildings of Saladin's royal residence were grouped. The road, which was

1 Kala el-Gebel.

narrow and uneven, ran between high walls. This passage, closed at either end, was the trap in which the Mameluke Beys were caught by Mohammed Ali on March 1, 1811. Of the 480 who obeyed the summons all were shot down, with the exception of one, Amîn Bey. There are two accounts of the manner in which he effected his escape. According to the romantic account, he leapt his horse through a broken parapet of the wall to the moat beneath, springing from the saddle before the animal crashed upon the ground forty feet below the battlements. The historical is more sober; it tells us that Amîn was late, and being warned by the sound of firing as he approached the Citadel, turned his horse's head and galloped in hot haste from the walls. It was a violent and bloody remedythis massacre of the last representatives of the Circassian Guards -the girdle (halka) that had first encircled and then strangled the person of the Khalîf; but it delivered Egypt from the most shameless of her foreign oppressors.

Saladin's palace, erected on the crown of the hill in the centre of the circle of walls and towers, has gone, and in its place stands the alabaster mosque of Mohammed Ali. Northwards, and below the mosque, is the open space to which we climbed. The eastern side was occupied by the battered wall of the old mosque of the Sultân Kalâûn, built by his son En-Nasir in 1317; northwards, and below, was an inner line of walls pierced by two gates, of which one led to the great Bâb el-Gedîd—the new gate-now the chief entrance to the Citadel, and the second gave access to the barracks where the Seaforth Highlanders were housed. The west side was also closed by a wall through which a third gate led to the Western Battery. In the centre of this bare, stony space was the guard-tent, with a group of Highlanders, whose flashing weapons and bright kilts gave a touch of colour and movement to the scene.

First we retraced our steps, past the northern and eastern façades of the mosque of Kalâûn, to the broken door which admits the stranger to the mighty shaft which Saladin sunk to

supply his fortress with water. Passing through a dark passage cut in the rock, we descended, with the assistance of two Arabs with lighted candles, until we stood in a gallery. As we grasped uneasily the wooden rails, which alone protected us from the black depths below, we looked down into the huge square shaft that pierced through the limestone rock to the soft sand, 280 feet below. The actual well-Joseph's Well it is called—was here; we could see a glimmer of light reflected from the water, but we felt no desire to descend the gruesome passage which

THE CENTRAL COURT OF THE CITADEL.

led down the shaft, and investigate it more closely. In spite of the protests of our guides, we hurried past the disused sâkîyeh, by which the water was raised, and emerged thankfully into the light of day.

The name requires a word of explanation. The famous Kurdish mercenary, who made himself master of Egypt on the death of the feeble Adîd, the last of the line of Fâtimite Khalîfs, is known in history as Saladin; but his actual style and title was Saleh ed-Dîn, Yûsuf ibn Eyyûb-Joseph the son of Job,