DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.11715#0040
THE LAND OF THE PHARAOHS.
tale from the Thousand and One Nights, the group seated round him listening with a
fixed attention which noth-
"""^V'ljllCT ing seems to weary. Jug-
/f^Wlnll' il^Hiiwllil^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^!^^ Qflers, mountebanks, and ac-
robats are performing their
feats precisely as we see
them at home. Booths,
constructed with a few poles
and rafters, over which a
vine has been trained, afford
shadow to loungers who sit
hour after hour, sipping coffee
or sherbet, and listening
to the dismal tones of a ta-
rabookah or Nubian drum, a
reed pipe, and a dulcimer.
It is a merry, and yet a sad
scene. These men are mere
children, with no occupation
for the present; no care, or
purpose, or hope, for the
future.
Continuing our ramble
along the banks of the Nile,
we cross a branch of the
river to visit the Nilometer.
It was built in the year 716
a.d. by order of the Caliph
Suleiman, and has been re-
stored many times since that
date. A pit lined with mason-
ry is sunk to the level of
the bed of the river, but the
lower part is choked with
mud and with the remains of
the dome, which has fallen
in. A graduated column
rises in the center indicat-
ing- in cubits the height to
which the inundation reaches.
The sixteenth cubit is called
the Sultan's water, as the
land tax is only levied when
this height is attained. It
is notorious that the official
and the true record never agree. " A good Nile," as it is called, is from eighteen to
36
a street in cairo.
»
tale from the Thousand and One Nights, the group seated round him listening with a
fixed attention which noth-
"""^V'ljllCT ing seems to weary. Jug-
/f^Wlnll' il^Hiiwllil^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^!^^ Qflers, mountebanks, and ac-
robats are performing their
feats precisely as we see
them at home. Booths,
constructed with a few poles
and rafters, over which a
vine has been trained, afford
shadow to loungers who sit
hour after hour, sipping coffee
or sherbet, and listening
to the dismal tones of a ta-
rabookah or Nubian drum, a
reed pipe, and a dulcimer.
It is a merry, and yet a sad
scene. These men are mere
children, with no occupation
for the present; no care, or
purpose, or hope, for the
future.
Continuing our ramble
along the banks of the Nile,
we cross a branch of the
river to visit the Nilometer.
It was built in the year 716
a.d. by order of the Caliph
Suleiman, and has been re-
stored many times since that
date. A pit lined with mason-
ry is sunk to the level of
the bed of the river, but the
lower part is choked with
mud and with the remains of
the dome, which has fallen
in. A graduated column
rises in the center indicat-
ing- in cubits the height to
which the inundation reaches.
The sixteenth cubit is called
the Sultan's water, as the
land tax is only levied when
this height is attained. It
is notorious that the official
and the true record never agree. " A good Nile," as it is called, is from eighteen to
36
a street in cairo.
»