The Mosque of Sultan Hasan, built of stone taken from the pyramids of Gizeh, is close to the citadel, and is generally considered to be the grandest in Cairo. It was built by Hasan, one of the younger sons of Sulțân Nâşir, and its construction occupied three years, A.D. 1356-1358. It is said that when the building was finished the architect's hands were cut off to prevent his executing a similar work again. This story, though probably false, shows that the mosque was considered of great beauty, and the judgment of competent critics of to-day endorses the opinion of it which was prevalent in Ḥasan's time. Hasan's tomb is situated on the east side of the building. The remaining minaret is about 280 feet high, the greatest length of the mosque is about 320 feet, and the width about 200 feet. the open court are two fountains which were formerly used, one by the Egyptians, and one by the Turks. On the eastern side are still to be seen a few of the balls which were fired at the mosque by the army of Napoleon.

In

The Mosque of Barkûk (A.D. 1382-1399) contains the tomb of the daughter of Barkûk.

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The Mosque of Muaiyyad, one of the Circassian Mamelukes, was founded between the years 1412-1420; it is also known as the "Red Mosque," from the colour of the walls outside. Externally it measures about 300 feet by 250, and possesses an internal court, surrounded by double colonnades on three sides, and a triple range of arches on the side looking towards Mecca, where also are situated-as in that of Barkûk-the tombs of the founder and his family. A considerable number of ancient columns have been used in the erection of the building, but the superstructure is so light and elegant, that the effect is agreeable." The bronze gate in front belonged originally to the mosque of Sulțân Hasan.

* From the Arabic ie "place of light."

+ Fergusson, Hist. of Architecture, Vol. II., p. 516.

The Mosque of Kait Bey (A.D. 1468-1496), one of the last independent Mameluke sulțâns of Egypt, is about eighty feet long and seventy feet wide; it has some fine mosaics, and is usually considered the finest piece of architecture in Cairo.

The Mosque el-Ghûri was built by the Sulțân Kanṣuweh el-Ghûri early in the sixteenth century; it is one of the most beautiful mosques in Cairo.

The Mosque of Sittah Zênab was begun late in the last century; it contains the tomb of Zênab, the granddaughter of the Prophet.

The Mosque begun by Muhammad 'Ali in the Citadel was finished in 1857 by Sa'id Pasha, after the death (in 1849) of that ruler; it is built of alabaster from the quarries of Beni Suwêf. As with nearly all mosques built by the Turks, the church of the Hagia Sophia at Constantinople served as the model, but the building is not considered of remarkable beauty. The mosque is a square covered by a large dome and four small ones. In the south-east corner is the tomb of Muḥammad 'Ali, and close by is the minbar or pulpit; in the recess on the east side is the Kiblah (), or spot to which the Muḥammadan turns his face during his prayers. The court is square, with one row of pillars on each of its four sides, and in the centre is the fountain for the Turks; the clock in the tower on the western side was presented to Muḥammad 'Ali by Louis Philippe.

(منبر)

The Mosque of El-Hasanên, i.e., the mosque of Hasan and Husên, the sons of 'Ali the son-in-law of the Prophet, is said to contain the head of Husên who was slain at Kerbela A.D. 680; the head was first sent to Damascus and afterwards brought to Cairo.

In the Mosque of El Akbar the dancing dervishes. perform.

THE TOMBS OF THE KHALIFS.*

These beautiful buildings are situated on the eastern side of the city, and contain the tombs of the members of the families of the Circassian Mameluke Sulțâns who reigned from A.D. 1382-1517. The tomb-mosques of Yûsuf, elAshraf, and the tomb of el-Ghûri (A.D. 1501-1516) are to the north-east of the Bâb en-Nasr; the tomb-mosques of Yûsuf and el-Ashraf are only to be seen by special permission. In the tomb-mosque of Barkûk are buried that sulțân, his son the Sulțân Farag (A.D. 1399-1412), and various other members of the family. The limestone pulpit and the two minarets are very beautiful specimens of stone work. To the west of this tomb-mosque is the tomb of Sulțân Sulêmân, and near that are the tombs of the Seven Women, the tomb-mosque of Bursbey (A.D. 1422-1438), the Ma'bed er-Rifâ'i, and the tomb of the mother of Bursbey. The most beautiful of all these tombs is the tomb-mosque of Kait Bey (A.D. 1468-1496), which is well worthy of more than one visit.

THE TOMBS OF THE MAMELUKES.†

Of the builders of these tombs no history has been preserved; the ruins, however, show that they must have been very beautiful objects. Some of the minarets are still very fine.

THE CITADEL.

The Citadel was built by Salâḥeddin, A.D. 1166, and the

* The word “Khalif,” Arabic,

Khalifah, means “suc

cessor (of Muḥammad) or "vicar" (of God upon earth), and was a title applied to the head of the Muslim world.

in Egypt about A.D. 1517.

The last Khalifah died

The word "Mameluke" means a "slave," Arabic

مماليك .plur

stones used were taken from the pyramids of Gîzeh; it formed a part of the large system of the fortifications of Cairo which this Sulțân carried out so thoroughly. Though admirably situated for commanding the whole city, and as a fortress in the days before long range cannon were invented, the site was shown in 1805 to be ill chosen for the purposes of defence in modern times by Muhammad 'Ali, who, by means of a battery placed on the Mokaṭṭam heights, compelled Khurshid Pasha to surrender the citadel. In the narrow way, with a high wall, through the Bâb el-Azab, which was formerly the most direct and most used means of access to it, the massacre of the Mamelukes took place by the orders of Muhammad 'Ali, A.D. 1811. The single Mameluke who escaped is said to have made his horse leap down from one of the walls of the Citadel; he refused to enter the narrow way.

JOSEPH'S WELL.

This well is not called after Joseph the Patriarch, as is usually supposed, but after the famous Salâḥeddîn (Saladin), whose first name was Yûsuf or Joseph. The shaft of this

well, in two parts, is about 280 feet deep, and was found to be choked up with sand when the Citadel was built; Saladin caused it to be cleared out, and from his time until 1865 its water was regularly drawn up and used. well was probably sunk by the ancient Egyptians.

THE LIBRARY.

This

This valuable institution was founded by Ismâ'îl in 1870, and contains the library of Mustafa Pasha; the number of works in the whole collection is said to be about 24,000. Some of the copies of the Kur'ân preserved there are among the oldest known.

EZBEKIYEH GARDEN.

This garden or "place," named after the Amîr Ezbeki,

the general of Kait Bey (A.D. 1468—1496), was made in 1870 by M. Barillet, and has an area of about twenty acres.

THE NILOMETER IN THE ISLAND OF RODA.

The Nilometer here is a pillar, which is divided into seventeen parts, each representing a cubit, i.e., 21 inches, and each cubit is divided into twenty-four parts. This pillar is placed in the centre of a well about sixteen feet square; the lower end is embedded in the foundations, and the upper end is held in position by a beam built into the side walls. The well is connected with the Nile by a channel. The first Nilometer at Rôda is said to have been built by the Khalif Sulêmân (A.D. 715-717), and about one hundred years later the building was restored by Mâmûn (A.D. 813-833). At the end of the eleventh century a dome resting upon columns was built over it. When the Nile is at its lowest level it stands at the height of seven cubits in the Nilometer well, and when it reaches the height of 15 cubits, the shêkh of the Nile proclaims that sufficient water has come into the river to admit of the cutting of the dam which prevents the water from flowing over the country. The difference between the highest rise and the lowest fall of the Nile at Cairo is about twenty-five feet. The cutting of the dam takes place some time during the second or third week in August, at which time there are general rejoicings. When there happens to be an exceptionally high Nile, the whole island of Rôda is submerged, and the waters flow over the Nilometer to a depth of two cubits, a fact which proves that the bed of the Nile is steadily rising, and one which shows how difficult it is to harmonize all the statements made by Egyptian, Greek, and Arab writers on the subject. As the amount of taxation to be borne by the people has always depended upon the height of the inundation, at tempts were formerly made by the governments of Egypt to prove to the people that there never was a low Nile.

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