Wilkinson, John Gardner: Topographie of Thebes, and general view of Egypt: being a short account of the principal objects worthy of notice in the valley of the Nile, to the second cataracte and Wadi Samneh, with the Fyoom, Oases and eastern desert, from Sooez to Bertenice (London, 1835)

306 Joseph's well and hall. [ChaP.vi

stituted by order of Soltan el Ghoree, about the
year 1510.

It is probable that the well above mentioned,
which now bears the name of Joseph's Well, from
the Caliph Yoosef, was hewn in the rock by the
ancient Egyptians, like the tanks on the hill behind
the citadel; and this is rendered more probable
from the circumstance of there having been an old
town, called Lioui Tkeshromi, on the site of the
modern city. It consists of two parts, the upper
and lower well, and a winding staircase leads to the
bottom, a depth of about 260 feet.

Among other objects worthy of remark in the
citadel, is the site of Joseph's hall, a building that
was supported on lofty and handsome granite
columns, and removed in 1829 by order of Moham-
med Ali, to make room for his projected mosk.
From the platform you have a grand and command-
ing view of the city; and below is the modern
arsenal, a notable result of the energetic projects
of the present Pasha. Parts only of the old citadel
walls now remain, the others having been replaced
by bastions and curtains of European construc-
tion*; and, what is singular, the only portion re-
gularly fortified is that least open to foreign ag-
gression, the town side.

Many of the sibeels, or public fonts, also merit
admiration, as curious specimens of the peculiari-

* A great part of the walls was blown up by the explosion of
the powder magazine in 1823.