DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.12664#0134
ravages of the plague.
i25
cafterias opposite the slave-market, a Turk meanly
dressed, though with arms, and a mouthpiece to
his pipe that marked him as a man of rank, at-
tracted my particular attention. He was almost
the last of the Mamelukes, but yesterday the lords
of Egypt; one of the few who escaped the general
massacre of his race, and one of the very few per-
mitted to drag out the remnant of their days in the
pacha's dominions. The ruins of the old town
are in a singularly high, bold, and commanding
situation, overlooking the river, the Cataracts, the
Island of Elephantina, and the Arabian desert.
More than a thousand years ago, this city contained
a large and flourishing population; and some idea
may be formed of its former greatness, from the
fact that more than twenty thousand of its inhab-
itants died in one year of the plague. In conse-
quence of the terrible ravages of this scourge, the
inhabitants abandoned it; but, still clinging to their
ancient homes, commenced building a new town,
beginning at the northern wall of the old. The
valley here is very narrow ; and the desert of Ara-
bia, with its front of dark granite mountains, ad-
vances to its bank.
The southern gate of the modern town opens to
the sands of the desert, and immediately outside
the walls is a large Mohammedan burying-ground,
by its extent, and the number of its tombstones, ex-
citing the wonder of the stranger how so small a
town could pay such a tribute to the king of ter-
rors. In many places the bodies were not more
l 2
i25
cafterias opposite the slave-market, a Turk meanly
dressed, though with arms, and a mouthpiece to
his pipe that marked him as a man of rank, at-
tracted my particular attention. He was almost
the last of the Mamelukes, but yesterday the lords
of Egypt; one of the few who escaped the general
massacre of his race, and one of the very few per-
mitted to drag out the remnant of their days in the
pacha's dominions. The ruins of the old town
are in a singularly high, bold, and commanding
situation, overlooking the river, the Cataracts, the
Island of Elephantina, and the Arabian desert.
More than a thousand years ago, this city contained
a large and flourishing population; and some idea
may be formed of its former greatness, from the
fact that more than twenty thousand of its inhab-
itants died in one year of the plague. In conse-
quence of the terrible ravages of this scourge, the
inhabitants abandoned it; but, still clinging to their
ancient homes, commenced building a new town,
beginning at the northern wall of the old. The
valley here is very narrow ; and the desert of Ara-
bia, with its front of dark granite mountains, ad-
vances to its bank.
The southern gate of the modern town opens to
the sands of the desert, and immediately outside
the walls is a large Mohammedan burying-ground,
by its extent, and the number of its tombstones, ex-
citing the wonder of the stranger how so small a
town could pay such a tribute to the king of ter-
rors. In many places the bodies were not more
l 2