Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1882-12-07

ancient and modern Mohammedanisrn
stands represented side BY side. As
3 mere picture. the traveller may per-
haps give his preference 70 the tow
ering red cliffs ,apd terraeed streets
Of Gran. the magnificent crescent Of
white houses surrounding the green
zfopina hills and spari<lina watera ef
AIqiers BAY. 81 the strshns httIe ca
gles nest OF Constantine perched on
the summit Of a perpendicular crag,
and encircled on al sides but one by
a hideous chasm 500 feet in depth.
But in the picturesque minglipg Of
the past and the present. of quaint
Eastern barhafisln and jaunty Wes-
tern civilization. Cairo stands alone.
1t must be owned, however. that
the late Khedive's efforts to make bis
capital a'cheap edition Of Paris have
had anything but a satisfactory re-
suit. Moslem cities are as conserve
tive as their inhabitants, and do not
take kindly to the bustling new-fan-
gIed notions Of the West. The Shur-
bra Gardens, indeed (which form the
park Of Cairo), are charming foil to
TO the hot, dusty plain all around;
and so, too. il The long avenue Of date
palms extending from the Nile almost
to where the mighty erests of the py-
ramids are seen looming against the
rich tropical sky on the border of the
everlasting desert. 0afg3i
But there is a garish, offensive
smartEess about every street Of the
new "Ismailiyeh Quarter" with its
tall, white hotels aud bride-cake-like
villas, aud inclosed grass plots sorely
in need Of watering; and It is quite
relief to turn from this "maae-to-or-
del" town into the maze of dark, mar
row, Oriental streets around the base
of the citadel hill where one may
still see what the great city was in
the days when she first received her
Arabic title of "Al Kahira."
Here. indeed. you may take your
fill of Eastern associations. You seem
TO be looking up from the bottom of
well at the bright summer sky,
which is Only visible as little rib,
bon Of burning light far overhead,
between the fiat, heavy-battlemented
roofs of the strange old houses, with
their blank, massive walls and
deep-tunnel-like door ways. All
around you the quaint, old-world life
Of the "Arabian Nights is in full
swing. The gray bearded barber is
chatting to his Arab customer as he
shayes his erown.0 The laden. camel,
striding up the narrow, rubbish heap
ed street, almost tramples upon tur-
baned loafer who is ton lazy to get
out Of the way. The "kabobki" (sel-
Ter Of cooked meats) sets out upon the
narrow board before him his little
squares Of smoking mutton. each Inn
paled upon its own tiny spit. The
deformadi beggar extends the shape
less mass of sores which serves him as
hand, with shrill petition for char
ity. The .bare~limbeda water-carrier
waddies past under lis dripping bag
of skin. eyed enviously by the latter
ed, dusty pilgrim from Mecca, who is
looking around in search of bath
house. The yelled woman glides
noiseiessly past in her shFoud-like
robe, like risen corpse, while the
gaunt, half-clad, wild-eyed dervish
(religious devotee) stalks through the
crowd yelling like mad man, and
tossing his bare arms frantically in
the air.
Amid such scene one would hard
" be surprised to come upon Khoiah
Hassan, or Sinbad, the sailor, snug
ly seated in shady corner and re-
counting to d circle Of admiring lis
teners one Of those interminable sto-
ries which delighted the Caliph Ha-
roun AL asehid. Before you reach
the foot of the winding path leading
upward to the citadel You will be
quite ready to assent to the old say
ing that He who hath not seen Cairo
hath not seen the world.
But the gem Of the whole panorama
is the citadel itself, which stands upon
steep rocky bluff overlooking the
town. True, the massive walls are
fast crumbling to decay, and mill
tary engineer would be anything but
satisfied either with the condition of
the defences or with that Of the guns
mounted upon them. But the most
resolute fault-6nder could hardly OBJ
ject to the stately white front and Ia
pering minarets of the great mosque,
or to the wealth of coloring lavished
upon the graceful columns and fretted
eornices and deep, shadowy archways
of its beautiful Interior st mon
uuent of the greatness of Its fonnder,
Msheuiet Ali Pasha, the Napoleon Of
Egypt, who ruled the country with a
rod of iron il the earlier part Of the
present century.
Beyond the mosque, in the outer
angle of the fortress, and iast at the
point where the rockF face 81 the hill
upon which Il stands falls awas into a
sheer precipice. lies spacious quad
raEgular courtyard. paved with broad
fat stones and encircled BY quiet,
shady colonnade. the back Of which
is formed hy tlierappaFsRtlema lives.
As you enter this quadrangle, . gray
haired. Arab. who seems to haunt It,
tells you in q tone of somebre mean
ing that it is the Court Of the Name
lukes.
The name recalls at once the half
wuntk.rnuxlefaila az nne ofthe grand