DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4393#0046
28 A THOUSAND MILES UP TUB NILE.
a barbarous way, and would appear to owe its present state
of dilapidation more to bad workmanship than to time.
Many of the pillars, especially on the western side, are
fallen and broken; the octagonal fountain in the center is a
roofless ruin; and the little minaret at the southeast cor-
ner is no longer safe.
Apart, however, from its poverty of design and detail,
the Mosque of Amr is interesting as a point of departure
in the history of Saracenic architecture. It was built by
Amr Ebn el-As, the Arab conqueror of Egypt, in the
twenty-first year of the hegira (a.d. 642), just ten years
after the death of Mohammed; and it is the earliest Sara-
cenic edifice in Egypt. We were glad, therefore, to have
seen it for this reason, if for no other. 13nt it is a barren,
dreary place; and the glare reflected from all sides of the
quadrangle was so intense that we were thankful to get
away into the narrow streets beside the river.
Here we presently fell in with a wedding procession con-
sisting of a crowd of men, a band, and some three or four
hired carriages full of veiled women,one of whom was pointed
out as the bride. The bridegroom walked in the midst of
the men, who seemed to be teasing him, drumming round
him, and opposing his progress; while high above the
laughter, the shouting, the jingle of tambourines and the
thrumming of darabukkehs, was heard the shrill squeal of
some instrument that sounded exactly like a bagpipe.
It was a brilliant afternoon, and we ended onr clay's
work, I remember, with a drive on the Shubra road and a
glance at the gardens of the khedivo's summer palace.
The Shubra road is the Champs Elysees of Cairo, and is
thronged every day from four to half-past six. Here little
sheds of roadside cafes alternate with smart modern villas;
ragged fellaheen on jaded donkeys trot side by side with
elegant attaches on high-stepping Arabs; while tourists in
hired carriages, Jew bankers in unexceptionable phaetons,
veiled hareems in London built broughams, Italian shop-
keepers in preposterously fashionable toilets, grave
sheiks on magnificent Cairo asses, officers in frogged and
braided frocks, and English girls in tall hats and close-fit-
ting habits,followed by the inevitable little solemn-looking
English groom, pass and repass, precede and follow each
other, in one changing, restless, heterogeneous stream,
the like of which is to be seen in no other capital in the
a barbarous way, and would appear to owe its present state
of dilapidation more to bad workmanship than to time.
Many of the pillars, especially on the western side, are
fallen and broken; the octagonal fountain in the center is a
roofless ruin; and the little minaret at the southeast cor-
ner is no longer safe.
Apart, however, from its poverty of design and detail,
the Mosque of Amr is interesting as a point of departure
in the history of Saracenic architecture. It was built by
Amr Ebn el-As, the Arab conqueror of Egypt, in the
twenty-first year of the hegira (a.d. 642), just ten years
after the death of Mohammed; and it is the earliest Sara-
cenic edifice in Egypt. We were glad, therefore, to have
seen it for this reason, if for no other. 13nt it is a barren,
dreary place; and the glare reflected from all sides of the
quadrangle was so intense that we were thankful to get
away into the narrow streets beside the river.
Here we presently fell in with a wedding procession con-
sisting of a crowd of men, a band, and some three or four
hired carriages full of veiled women,one of whom was pointed
out as the bride. The bridegroom walked in the midst of
the men, who seemed to be teasing him, drumming round
him, and opposing his progress; while high above the
laughter, the shouting, the jingle of tambourines and the
thrumming of darabukkehs, was heard the shrill squeal of
some instrument that sounded exactly like a bagpipe.
It was a brilliant afternoon, and we ended onr clay's
work, I remember, with a drive on the Shubra road and a
glance at the gardens of the khedivo's summer palace.
The Shubra road is the Champs Elysees of Cairo, and is
thronged every day from four to half-past six. Here little
sheds of roadside cafes alternate with smart modern villas;
ragged fellaheen on jaded donkeys trot side by side with
elegant attaches on high-stepping Arabs; while tourists in
hired carriages, Jew bankers in unexceptionable phaetons,
veiled hareems in London built broughams, Italian shop-
keepers in preposterously fashionable toilets, grave
sheiks on magnificent Cairo asses, officers in frogged and
braided frocks, and English girls in tall hats and close-fit-
ting habits,followed by the inevitable little solemn-looking
English groom, pass and repass, precede and follow each
other, in one changing, restless, heterogeneous stream,
the like of which is to be seen in no other capital in the