Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1882-08-10
THE GREATEST CITY OF EGYPT
Cairo, the Most Perfect Example of
a Mohammedan Capital.
From the London Daily News.

From the London Daily News.
The ordinary population of Cairo is
nearly twice as large as that of Alexan-
dria, the great Egyptian port which has,
we may almost say, passed out of exist
ence with swiftness so dramatic and
so terrible. The extent of its streets,
squares, and her public places is even
more than proportionately greater. This
famous city, now familiar to so many
travellers and holiday tourists, is the
largest city in Africa. 1t occupies site
upon a spur of the Mokdttam hills and
the plain below, of about ten miles in
circuit, of oblong shape, comprising
within that space more than three square
miles, inclusive Of the new and fashion
able quarter of Ismaileeyeh. II is bor-
dered on the western side by the Nile.
which, with the contracted channels
formed by the Islands of Roda and Boo
| laks, flows along under the walls of the
| Palaces of Kasr and Ibrahim Pasha
| Behind the city to the east is the lofty
range of hills of Makattam and Ell
Joshee. fianked by the citadel, which
commands magnificent view of Cairo
and the Nile, with the arid plains of
Ghizen and the Pyramids in the dis
tance.
Mr.. Stanley Lane Poole considers the
city "the most perfect example the
world can show of Mohammedan cap
ital." In spite of the Hausmauizing
| tendencies of recent days and the at
tempts to raise it to the questionable
dignity of a bastard Paris, observes this
experienced Orientalist, we Can still
shut our eyes to the hotels and restaur-
ants, the dusty grass plots and tawdry
villa residences, and turn away to wan
der in the labyrinth of narrow lanes
which intersect the old. parts just as
they did in the golden days of the Mem
LUX Sultans. stt,I''t a+tt
Cairo is what Alexander has long
ceased to be-a city which, if it no long
er justifies the exclamation of the jew
ish physician in the ThOusand-and-O One
Nights, "He who hath not seen Cairo
hath not seen the world" ia yet essen
TALLY Mohammedan. Its peculiar boast
tis its mosques and chapels, of which
there arc said to- be as many as four
hundred, some of them fine specimens
of Arabian architectnre-the most cele-
brated being the mosque of Sultan Has
san, which has q magnificent entrance
beautifully embellished with honey
comb tracery. In the poorer quarters
the houses are built of mud or sun
baked bricks, and are only one story in
Iiheight; those of the richer class are of
brick, wood, and soft stone quarried in
| the neighboriRg mountains, and are two,
or frequently three stories high.
4 cfr to with lAffinr hnnCQc
however, have arisen since the acces-
sion of the Khedive Ismail, particularly
| in the neighborhood of the Esbeckeyeh,
| that large public square, once the bed OF
a lake, fianked with trees around public
promenades with large and handsome
| fountains, and bordered with cafes,
shops, hotels, ond some buildings of a
nobler characters the old palace OF
Mohammed Ali, the Opera House, and
the French Theatre. This centre of the
European life of the city is on the
northern side. about a third of mile
from the Ismaileeyeh Canal. Herea-
bouts are concentrated the English,
French and German Consulates, and the
American Mission. At the eastern cor.
ner are the post and telegraph offices; a
little further to the north are Miss
Whateley's schools.
The collection of streets called the
Gemayleeyeh, where the wholesale busi.
ness of Cairo is done. and the quarter
which is the centre of the Red Sea trade
lie wall away from the European quar-.
ter to the east. The most important OF
the new streets rs the Boulevard Me-
hemet Ali, which traverses the city in a
northerly direction from the Esbeeke-
yeh to the citadel.
The climate of Cairo is considered
healthy in the winter months, when the
thermometer seldom falls below 40 de.
grees Fahrenheit, or rises above 10 de
grees; but damp, unwholesome exhala-
fions prevail after the July rising of the
Nile has subsided; and the heat in Au'
gust, reaching an average of SO degrees
is oppressive for Europeans.