The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-10-04

alike OF business and Of culture, while
Kahira was but palace. barrack and a
seat OF government When the msdiRval
chroniclnrs, such as william Of Tyre. write
of -Macer," meaning Masr properly Misr,
the usual Arabic name both for Egypt and
its capital they refer not to Kahira. but to
Fustat, or, az IL Ia commonly called, Misr-
el-Fustat. The Emir, or Caliph, or Sultan,
might dwell and rule at any suburb he
pleased to build, hut. until the last third OF
the twelfth century, the old capital re-
manned the real metropolis. There the
kadis sat in Judgment in the "Old Mosque,
there the coins OF the realm we're issued
and there resided the bulk Of the citizens
who were not attached to the palace. 1t
was only when Fustat was deliberately
burned in 1853 to save it from giving cover
to the Crusaders that Kahira took its place
as the real capital as well as the oficial
centre of Egypt.
The celebrated Sultan Saladin was the
creator Of Cairo as We know it. 1t was he
who planned the wall that WAS to enclose
not only Kahira, but the Citadel and what
remained of Katai and Fustat, and from his
time began the building over the space
| between the Citadel and the palace
OF Kahira, which gradually filled up
the Cairo we now see. The growth
OF the city thus consisted mainly OF three
successive extensions toward the northeast,
accompanied by decay OF abandoned sub
urbs and ending in enclosure Of the chief
inhabited portions. Since the, days Of
| Saladin, whatever remained Of Fustat has
vanished, and only a struggling village,
( called Masr-el-Atika. or odd Masr,' and
known to Europeans as 'Old Cairo has
risen near its site, which IL easily traced by
| the immense rubbish heaps. On the other
hand, new town has grown up between
Kahira and the Nile under European in
huenoes. but with this the medieval town
has nothing to do.
1t may be remembered that Saladin put
an end to the Fatimid Caliphate in Egypt
and in III reasserted the nominal authority
Of the Caliphs OF Bagdad, who retained
spiritual ascendancy in the Nile country
until its conquest by Selim in 1916. soon
after which the last Abbasid left by will the
Caliphal dignity to the Ottoman Sultans.
During most of the interval Egypt had been
ruled by the Mamluks, at first chiefly Turks,
later Circassians, and even after the Otto
man Conquest the Mamluks usually re-
tanned the substance OF power until their
extirpation, partly by the French and partly
by Mehemet Ali, about q hundred years ago.
Without undertaking to trace, even in
outline, the history Of Cairo. from the date
Of its enclosure and establishment by
Saladin, We may say that in the Egyptian
capital, as 1t was during the thirteenth
and fourteenth centuries. We behold the
City of the Arabian Nights. Prof. Lane
Poole holds that from internal evidence
there is no manner OF doubt that 1t was in
Cairo that the famous tales took the shape
in which they have come down to US. I'm
doubtedly their origins have in many cases
been traced to Persia and India. but their
final form and color are Cairene. Though
many of the scenes are laid at Bagdad,
where so conspicuous and erratic part is
attributed to Harun er-Raschid. It IL, &C.
cording to our author. obvious to any
student Of the topography, that the writer's
were very imperfectly acquainted with the
Abbassid capital. It is Cairo that they
know and describe. whatever geographical
names they see AT TO attach to their scenes,
There are also incidental touches which
make It probable that the ARABIAN Nights"
assumed their present form In all essentials
before the middle Of the fourteenth century.
The latest historical parsonage mentioned
is Saladin. and Prof. Lane-Poole has found
many reasons for believing that the tales
were collected and written down very
nearly in their present shape during the
revival OF letters that ennobled the golden
age of Mamluk civilization on the Nile.
The society they describe is precisely what
we know of Mamluk times. 1t is orthodox
Moslem society OF the Cairene type.
To those who wonder that there should
be any speculation about the date OF so
famous a book, our author explains that
Moslem scholars and learned men have
always looked with contempt upon such
stories. which are devoid Of the literary
preciosity that has ever been the special
pride Of professional men Of letters In the
East. Hence they do not deign even TO
mention 'The Thousand and One Nights"
save in two or three slight references which
do not determine the date Of the existing
revision. The "Nights' were written for
the people. for the audiences who gathered
In the coffee shops to listen to the profess
sional reciter that liz to say, for the large.
uneducated middle class OF Cairo, This,
of course. ia what constitutes their special
merit in the eyes of the student Of mediae-
val Egypt. The doings Of Emirs and Sui
tans may be learned from the pages Of
scholarly historical writers: it is from
1.-THE Thousand and One Nights" that we
gain insight into the life OF the people.
life divided from that Of the great by a
gulf over which the Oriental historian
rarely leaps. The tales are, above all.
the adventures Of merchants and shop
keepers Ostensibly. no doubt, we are
introduced to Caliphs. and Sultans, and
viziers, as well as to the ginn. afrits and
marids, and other members OF the spirit
world; but the real actors in the stories
are traders, men who keep shop, and who
have ventures upon the seas, and often
make voyages themselves. Sindbad might
easily have heard many Of his own ad-
ventures from the lips Of the motley crowd
that gathered on the quays at Misr from
all parts OF tho known world.
Ibn-Sad, Moorish traveller, stood and
watched the shipping in 1248. and noticed
vessels arriving from all lands AS for the
merchandise no writes. 'from the Med
iterranean and the Red Sea that comes TO
Misr. it is past describing; here Ia 1t bonded.
not at Cairo, and hence 1t in distributed
throughout Egypt" What was true Of
4 81. I- Al