DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.11448#0281
CHAP XXIX.]
MUSEUMS AND MOSQUES.
243
seem that the ocean, that now wraps the Cities of the Plain,
could alone purify its polluted precincts.
Cairo nevertheless affords to the traveller and the student ma-
ny sources of entertainment and information : there is an excel-
lent library, liberally open to all strangers, principally under the
care of our consul, Mr. Walne. There is also a literary insti-
tution, founded by Dr. Abbott and M. Priess, having in view not
only a collection of literature connected with Egypt, but the
publication from time to time of new discoveries and old MSS.
In the former are held weekly " conversaziones," where the ap-
pearance of the guests is as various as the information to be ob-
tained from their frank and ready courtesy. Pipes and coffee,
nargilehs and sherbets, are handed round to turbans and tar-
booshes, hats and grey hairs. Conversation flows freely and
richly among men who seldom meet, and who appreciate that
meeting; all have something to communicate, and all have
much to learn. Among the leaders of this society, I n ied only
mention our distinguished countrymen, Sir Gardner Wilkinson
and Mr. Lane ; M. Linant and Clot Bey, and the more enlight-
ened travellers who fill the numerous hotels. I must not omit
allusion to the valuable Antiquarian Museum of Dr. Abbott, and
the well-chosen collection of antiquities and natural history be-
longing to Clot Bey, both of which are most liberally open to the
inspection of strangers.
The public schools are well worthy of a visit; and, as they
are the most praiseworthy of Mehemet Ali's numerous estab-
lishments, I shall introduce them when speaking of his life and
character.
I have little to say of the mosques, which considerably dis-
appointed my expectation. There are four hundred in Cairo,
and scarcely any village in Egypt is without one : yet there are
only three in all Nubia ; to this latter cause the Moolahs attribute
the tendency to drunkenness and other failings, not uncommon
above the Cataract. These mosques consist generally of cloisters
surrounding a square court, in which stands a fountain for ab-
lutions : the sanctuary is always on the eastern side, towards
Mecca ; the whole aspect of the building reminds one of a gutted
cathedral. It is true that some are elaborately decorated with
MUSEUMS AND MOSQUES.
243
seem that the ocean, that now wraps the Cities of the Plain,
could alone purify its polluted precincts.
Cairo nevertheless affords to the traveller and the student ma-
ny sources of entertainment and information : there is an excel-
lent library, liberally open to all strangers, principally under the
care of our consul, Mr. Walne. There is also a literary insti-
tution, founded by Dr. Abbott and M. Priess, having in view not
only a collection of literature connected with Egypt, but the
publication from time to time of new discoveries and old MSS.
In the former are held weekly " conversaziones," where the ap-
pearance of the guests is as various as the information to be ob-
tained from their frank and ready courtesy. Pipes and coffee,
nargilehs and sherbets, are handed round to turbans and tar-
booshes, hats and grey hairs. Conversation flows freely and
richly among men who seldom meet, and who appreciate that
meeting; all have something to communicate, and all have
much to learn. Among the leaders of this society, I n ied only
mention our distinguished countrymen, Sir Gardner Wilkinson
and Mr. Lane ; M. Linant and Clot Bey, and the more enlight-
ened travellers who fill the numerous hotels. I must not omit
allusion to the valuable Antiquarian Museum of Dr. Abbott, and
the well-chosen collection of antiquities and natural history be-
longing to Clot Bey, both of which are most liberally open to the
inspection of strangers.
The public schools are well worthy of a visit; and, as they
are the most praiseworthy of Mehemet Ali's numerous estab-
lishments, I shall introduce them when speaking of his life and
character.
I have little to say of the mosques, which considerably dis-
appointed my expectation. There are four hundred in Cairo,
and scarcely any village in Egypt is without one : yet there are
only three in all Nubia ; to this latter cause the Moolahs attribute
the tendency to drunkenness and other failings, not uncommon
above the Cataract. These mosques consist generally of cloisters
surrounding a square court, in which stands a fountain for ab-
lutions : the sanctuary is always on the eastern side, towards
Mecca ; the whole aspect of the building reminds one of a gutted
cathedral. It is true that some are elaborately decorated with