DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.12664#0042
CAIRO.
35
ful and perilous way among tottering and ruined
houses, justled by camels, dromedaries, horses, and
donkeys, perhaps he will draw up against a wall,
and, thinking of plague, hold his breath and screw
himself into nothing, while he allows a corpse
to pass, followed by a long train of howling wo-
men, dressed in black with masks over their faces ;
and entering the large wooden gate which shuts in
the Frank quarter, for protection against any sud-
den burst of popular fury, and seating himself in
a miserable Italian locanda, he will ask himself,
Where is the " Cairo of the califs, the superb town,
the holy city, the delight of the imagination, great-
est among the great, whose splendour and opu-
lence made the Prophet smile ?"
Almost immediately upon my arrival I called
upon Mr. Gliddon, our vice-consul, and upon Nu-
bar Bey, an Armenian dragoman to the pacha, to
whom I had a letter from a gentleman in Alexan-
dria. The purport of my visit to the latter was
to procure a presentation to the pacha. He told
me that several English officers from India had
been waiting several days for that purpose ; that
he thought the pacha would receive them the next
day, and if so he would ask permission to present
me. Having arranged this, and not being particu-
larly pleased with the interior, and liking exceed-
ingly the donkeys on which it is the custom there
to mount on all occasions for long and for short
distances, I selected one that was particularly gay
and sprightly, and followed by an Arab boy who
35
ful and perilous way among tottering and ruined
houses, justled by camels, dromedaries, horses, and
donkeys, perhaps he will draw up against a wall,
and, thinking of plague, hold his breath and screw
himself into nothing, while he allows a corpse
to pass, followed by a long train of howling wo-
men, dressed in black with masks over their faces ;
and entering the large wooden gate which shuts in
the Frank quarter, for protection against any sud-
den burst of popular fury, and seating himself in
a miserable Italian locanda, he will ask himself,
Where is the " Cairo of the califs, the superb town,
the holy city, the delight of the imagination, great-
est among the great, whose splendour and opu-
lence made the Prophet smile ?"
Almost immediately upon my arrival I called
upon Mr. Gliddon, our vice-consul, and upon Nu-
bar Bey, an Armenian dragoman to the pacha, to
whom I had a letter from a gentleman in Alexan-
dria. The purport of my visit to the latter was
to procure a presentation to the pacha. He told
me that several English officers from India had
been waiting several days for that purpose ; that
he thought the pacha would receive them the next
day, and if so he would ask permission to present
me. Having arranged this, and not being particu-
larly pleased with the interior, and liking exceed-
ingly the donkeys on which it is the custom there
to mount on all occasions for long and for short
distances, I selected one that was particularly gay
and sprightly, and followed by an Arab boy who