DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.11638#0032
l8 TRAVELS IN UPPER
Another work of the Arabs, which is, nowever,
remarkable for its beautiful construction and its
boldness, indeed the only one worth seeing in the
ancient city of Cairo, is the aqueduct which con-
veys the water of the Nile into the castle. It is
supported by three hundred and fifty arcades nar-
row and very high. The water is conveyed thi-
ther by a chain-pump with four wheels, which is
moved by oxen.
In front of ancient Cairo, the Nile leaves in the
middle of its bed an island about five hundred
paces broad, on which is built the mekklas, that is
to say, measure. It is there, in fact, that on the
graduations of a pillar the increase of the water is
measured, and after these observations, public
criers go about the streets of Cairo proclaiming
the successive heights of the water, the promise
of fertility and abundance. It is thought that
this nilometer was built by the Arabs. The
island is called Roudda, or gardens, because, in
fact, it is laid out in gardens, and inhabited only
by gardeners.
On the opposite side of the isle Roudda, the
town of Gizah extends itself on the western shore
of the Nile. The numerous date-trees which sur-
round it, among which the lofty turrets of its
mosques mingle themselves., the river, whose
waves
Another work of the Arabs, which is, nowever,
remarkable for its beautiful construction and its
boldness, indeed the only one worth seeing in the
ancient city of Cairo, is the aqueduct which con-
veys the water of the Nile into the castle. It is
supported by three hundred and fifty arcades nar-
row and very high. The water is conveyed thi-
ther by a chain-pump with four wheels, which is
moved by oxen.
In front of ancient Cairo, the Nile leaves in the
middle of its bed an island about five hundred
paces broad, on which is built the mekklas, that is
to say, measure. It is there, in fact, that on the
graduations of a pillar the increase of the water is
measured, and after these observations, public
criers go about the streets of Cairo proclaiming
the successive heights of the water, the promise
of fertility and abundance. It is thought that
this nilometer was built by the Arabs. The
island is called Roudda, or gardens, because, in
fact, it is laid out in gardens, and inhabited only
by gardeners.
On the opposite side of the isle Roudda, the
town of Gizah extends itself on the western shore
of the Nile. The numerous date-trees which sur-
round it, among which the lofty turrets of its
mosques mingle themselves., the river, whose
waves