checks were met with; at one time (1348) hundreds of thousands of persons were swept away by the plague; under the régime of the Mameluke Sultans internal dissensions. produced great havoc among the people, and retarded the progress of the city; cruel persecutions of the Christians prevailed at times, during which the churches were demolished, and in order to save themselves from horrible forms of death they were forced to embrace the religion of Islam.

In 1517 the Mameluke Sovereignty was overthrown by Sultan Selim, and Cairo became a mere Turkish province, sinking so rapidly that it has no history whatever until 1798, when the Battle of the Pyramids was fought, and Cairo became the head-quarters of Napoleon Bonaparte. The French were forced by the Turks to capitulate in 1801; and in 1805 Mohammed Ali took possession as Pasha of Egypt. He treacherously gathered the remnant of the Mamelukes together, and massacred them in cold blood in the citadel. In his reign the city revived, vast improvements were made, and a new life was given to Cairo; but the changes introduced by Mohammed Ali were as nothing compared with those carried out with reckless extravagance by the late Khedive, Ismaïl Pasha.

The city is divided into ten quarters, each under the superintendence of a Sheikh, and each separated from the other by gates, which are closed at night, and cannot be passed unless the porter cares to open, and the wayfarer carries a lantern as prescribed by an ancient law. In the old part of the city the houses are situated in an intricate labyrinth of narrow lanes and alleys, so narrow that in some parts it is difficult for two donkeys to pass, while in others the neighbours in the upper storeys of the houses are able to converse in a low whisper from opposite sides of the street, and on a stretch can even shake hands. In these streets of old Cairo, scenes are to be witnessed, and customs and habits to be traced, which carry the thought of the traveller back through thousands of years of history; Oriental observances, Oriental splendour, Oriental life in all its phases, may be seen and studied, as we shall hereafter show. In startling contrast to all this is the Cairo of the Khedive. A short distance from the railway station-itself a modern innovation-after passing strings of camels and palm-trees, and an Eastern crowd flashing the bright colours of their costumes under an Eastern sky, suddenly a new Paris bursts upon the sight. Here is a palace for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; over there is the Opera House, there the French Theatre, there magnificent hotels and long ranges of handsome shops; while in the large open space in the centre, enclosed with iron railings, are the gardens of the Ezbekeeyeh, a kind of Parc Monceaux-the Champs Elysées of Egypt. Here are beds of exquisite flowers and the unprecedented luxury of grassy lawns literally lying under water to save them from the fierce sun; there palm-trees, shrubberies, and exotics rich and rare. Then we find cascades and cafés, grottoes and kiosks, and a rustic bridge over a lake, where in the evening thousands of gas-jets in coloured glass globes illuminate the scene, while military bands play the latest European quadrilles, and men, women, and children of all nations, peoples, and tongues, and in all manner of costumes conceivable and inconceivable, meet together in the gay promenade which to the eye of a stranger looks like an exaggeration of a bal masqué or fancy fair.

Besides the Ezbekeeyeh, there are other new Quarters where handsome streets, boulevards, and public buildings have sprung up in place of the crowded rookeries which only

a few years since were there. These are the Boulevard Méhémet Ali, the Moskee, the New Quarter of Ismaïlieh and Abdeen. At the last-named place is the palace which was the favourite of Ismaïl Pasha.

Other palaces, far too numerous to mention, are scattered all round Cairo; some are magnificent, some flimsy. There is the villa at Ghizeh, near the Pyramids, and another on the road thither, another facing the island of Roda, another at Gezireh, on the west bank of the river opposite Boulak, another, in the French style, near Old Cairo, and another in the citadel; while in the journey up the Nile, it is a standing joke to ask, whenever a house or garden or wall is seen, "Is that too a palace of the Khedive?"

One of the most attractive is the Summer Palace at Shoobra, once the favourite residence of Mohammed Ali. The road to it lies through a beautiful shady avenue of old sycamore and acacia trees, and at the fashionable hours crowds of pedestrians and a ceaseless tide of carriages pour up and down this "Drive" and Rotten Row of Cairo. Here may be found every style of carriage, from the elegant equipages of the Khedive and the ladies of his harem down to the equivalent of a costermonger's cart; and every style of person, from the Ministers of State to the poorest fellah; and every description of "mount," from the pure blood Arab to the most jaded of sore-backed donkeys; and every variety of costume, from the costly embroideries of Damascus to the simple calico fold around the waist. The gardens of the Summer Palace are very pretty, abounding in orange, lemon, citron, and pepper trees, and flowers of intoxicating odour and dazzling colours, while fountains send forth the cool splash of their waters, and shady alcoves in courts of marble tempt the traveller to rest. Coming from the glare and heat of the afternoon sun into the midst of this paradise is like realising a fairy tale.

There are several fine open spaces in Cairo besides the Ezbekeeyeh—the Birket-el-Fyl, which gives its name to one of the old central Quarters; the Roumeyleh near the citadel, the scene of some of the great Mohammedan fêtes and festivals; and the Kara-meidan, the chief market-place for horses, donkeys, and camels, and a good place for studying some of the characteristics of the people. All these open spaces have been cleared of the filth and rubbish that fomerly encumbered them, and have been made creditable and serviceable.

The Citadel " El-Kaleh”—was built by Saladin in 1166, on the last rocky projection of the Mokattam range, from materials taken from the Pyramids of Ghizeh. It comprises, besides the barracks, the Ministry of War, the palace of Mohammed Ali, used for State ceremonials, the gigantic Mosque of Mohammed Ali, the mint, a cannon foundry, and workshops. There is no doubt the site of the Citadel was a mistake, for although it commands the city, the Mokattam hills command it-a weak point which was seen at a glance by Mohammed Ali, in 1805, when he planted his cannon on the hills and compelled the Pasha to surrender the Citadel. There is an Arabian tradition to the effect that Saladin selected this spot because it was found that meat kept fresh twice as long here as anywhere else in Cairo.

There is probably no view in the world to equal that from the Citadel; it is splendid by daylight, but is surpassed by the incredible beauty of sunset and the "after-glow," when the crimson haze of the short Egyptian twilight bathes the whole panorama in colours which would be deemed extravagantly improbable if attempted in a painting—colours

which neither Hildebrand nor Holman Hunt has been able to depict. Often as the "after-glow" has been described there is probably no better short, graphic description than this, "With the drawing on of evening, a glory of colour comes out in the light of the setting sun; purple shadows are cast by the mountains; the reds and greys of sandstone, granite, and limestone cliffs blend exquisitely with the tawny yellow of the desert, the rich green of the banks, and the blue of the river. The cold grey twilight follows immediately upon sunset-but in a few minutes there is a marvellous change. The earth and sky are suffused with a delicate pink tinge, known as the after-glow '-fairy-like

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PLAN OF CAIRO. (Copied, by permission, from Murray's "Guide.")

and magical. The peculiarity of Egyptian over all other sunsets is that light and colour return after an interval of ashy grey, like the coming back of life to a corpse." It seems sometimes as if the rich pink and gold colour flooding the landscape could be touched, or as an American said to the writer when standing together one night on the Citadel, "I believe if I were to wave a white towel through the air it would come down like a seam of Joseph's coat."

If the reader can imagine the "after-glow," let him now look out from the Citadel and take in this view. Immediately below is Cairo, with its wonderful buildings, its minarets, its squares, its splendour, and its feathery palm-clumps; close at our feet are the tombs of the Mamelukes, rounded mausoleums, picturesquely studding the plain. Stretching away till it is lost in the haze of distance is the valley of Egypt, through which winds the grand