CAIRO--II
Fascinating though the streets of Cairo are, continuous sight-seeing
in the heat and glare is tiring, and it is always a pleasant change to
escape from the movement and bustle outside, and enjoy the quietude of
some cool mosque or palace courtyard.
Having described the exterior of the native house, it will interest
you to know what it is like inside. Entering from the street, one
usually has to descend one or more steps to the entrance hall or
passage, which, in the case of the older houses, is invariably built
with at least one turning, so that no one from the street could see
into the interior court or garden should the door be open, for privacy
was always jealously guarded by the Mohammedans. On one side is a
raised stone platform, seat for the "boab" or door-keeper, and other
servants of the house. Passing through this passage, we reach the
courtyard, which is often very large and open to the sky, and into
which most of the windows of the house open. On one side is a large
recess or bay raised slightly above the pavement of the court, and
furnished with benches of carved wood. The beams of the ceiling and
handsome cornice are richly ornamented with carving and illumination,
and the heavy beam which spans the entrance is supported by a pillar
of elegant shape and proportion. Here, or in the "mandara"[3] inside
the house, the Arab host receives his male guests. On the most shady
side of the court are placed the "zirs," while several doors lead
to the harim, as the ladies' quarters are called, and the various
offices and reception-rooms of the house. These doors are always
panelled in elaborate geometrical designs, and the principal one,
which is reached by a short flight of stone steps, is set in a lofty
recess, the trefoil head of which is richly carved. This gives access
to the reception-room on the first floor. One side is entirely open to
the air, and through three archways connected by a low balustrade of
perforated stonework overlooks the court. The floor is paved in tiles
or marble of various colours, usually in some large design, in the
centre of which is a shallow basin in which a fountain plays. Round
the three walls is a raised dais called "lewan," covered with rugs
or mattresses, on which the guests recline. Little recesses in the
walls, which in the homes of the wealthy are elaborately decorated
with mosaic or tile work, contain the water jars, and the "tisht wa
abrik," or water-jug and basin, used for the ceremonial washing of
hands before meat. The walls are usually plain, and are only broken by
the "dulab," or wall cupboard, in which pipes and other articles are
kept. The ceiling is heavily beamed and illuminated, or covered with
applique work in some rich design, the spaces variously coloured or
picked out in gold.
[Footnote 3: Guest chamber.]
For cold weather another similar room is provided in the interior of the
house much as the one I have described, but with the addition of a
cupola or dome over the fountain, while the large windows, in the
recesses of which couches are placed, are filled with the beautiful
"mushrabiyeh" work we have noticed from the streets, or by stained glass
set in perforated plaster work. These rooms contain practically no
furniture, excepting the low "sahniyeh," or tray, upon which
refreshments are served, and the copper brazier which contains the
charcoal fire, but from the ceiling hang numbers of beautifully-wrought
lamps of metal and coloured glass. We can imagine how rich a scene such
a room would form when illuminated for the reception of guests whose
gorgeous Oriental costumes accord so well with its handsome interior,
while the finishing touch is given by the performance of the musicians
and singing girls with which the guests are entertained, leading one
instinctively to call to mind many similar scenes so wonderfully
described in the "Arabian Nights." Many of the adventures of its heroes
and heroines are suggested by the secret passages which the wall
cupboards often hide, and may well have occurred in houses we may visit
to-day in Cairo, for, more than any other, Cairo is the city of the
"Arabian Nights," and in our walks one may at any moment meet the
hunchback or the pastry-cook, or the one-eyed calender, whose adventures
fills so many pages of that fascinating book; while the summary justice
and drastic measures of the old khalifs are recalled by the many
instruments of torture or of death which may still be seen hanging in
the bazaars or from the city gates.
Everyone who goes to Cairo is astonished at the great number and
beauty of its mosques, nearly every street having one or more.
Altogether there are some 500 or more in Cairo, as well as a great
number of lesser shrines where the people worship. I will tell you how
this comes about. We have often read in the "Arabian Nights" in what a
high-handed and frequently unjust manner the property of some poor
unfortunate would be seized and given to another. This was very much
the case in Cairo in the olden days, and khalifs and cadis, muftis and
pashas, were not very scrupulous about whose money or possessions they
administered, and even to-day in some Mohammedan countries it is not
always wise for a man to grow rich.
[Illustration: A MOSQUE INTERIOR.]
And so it was that in order to escape robbery in the name of law many
wealthy merchants preferred to build during their lifetime a mosque or
other public building, while money left for this purpose was regarded
as sacred, and so the many beautiful sebils and mosques of Cairo
came into existence.
Egypt is so old that even the Roman times appear new, and one is
tempted to regard these glorious buildings of the Mohammedan era as
only of yesterday. Yet many of the mosques which people visit and
admire are older than any church or cathedral in England. We all think
of Lincoln Cathedral or Westminster Abbey as being very venerable
buildings, and so they are; but long before they were built the
architecture of the Mohammedans in Egypt had developed into a perfect
style, and produced many of the beautiful mosques in which the Cairene
prays to-day.
As a rule the mosque was also the tomb of its founder, and the dome
was designed as a canopy over his burial-place, so that when a mosque
is _domed_ we know it to be the mausoleum of some great man, while the
beautiful minaret or tower is common to all mosques, whether
tomb-mosque or not.
One of the most striking features of a mosque is the doorway, which is
placed in a deep arched recess, very lofty and highly ornamented. A
flight of stone steps lead from the street to the door, which is often
of hammered bronze and green with age, and from a beam which spans the
recess hang curious little lamps, which are lit on fete days.
At the top of the steps is a low railing or barrier which no one may
cross _shod_, for beyond this is holy ground, where, as in the old
days of Scripture, every one must "put off his shoes from off his
feet."
The interior of the mosque is often very rich and solemn. It is
usually built in the form of a square courtyard, open to the sky, in
which is the "hanafieh," or tank, where "the faithful" wash before
prayers. The court is surrounded by cloisters supported by innumerable
pillars, or else lofty horseshoe arches lead into deep bays or
recesses, the eastern one of which, called the "kibleh," is the
holiest, and corresponds to our chancel, and in the centre of the wall
is the "mirhab," or niche, which is in the direction of Mecca, and the
point towards which the Moslem prays.
Marble pavements, beautiful inlay of ivory and wood, stained-glass
windows, and elaborately decorated ceilings and domes, beautify the
interior, and go to form a rich but subdued coloured scheme, solemn
and restful, and of which perhaps my picture will give you some idea.
Attached to most mosques is a sebil, also beautiful in design. The
lower story has a fountain for the use of wayfarers; above, in a
bright room open to the air, is a little school, where the boys and
girls of the quarter learn to recite sundry passages from the Koran,
and which until recently was practically all the education they
received.
And now I must tell you something about the bazaars, which, after the
mosques, are the most interesting relics in Cairo, and in many cases
quite as old. First, I may say that the word "bazaar" means "bargain,"
and as in the East a fixed price is unusual, and anything is worth
just what can be got for it, making a purchase is generally a matter
of patience, and one may often spend days in acquiring some simple
article of no particular value. An exception is the trade in copper
ware, which is sold by weight, and it is a common practice among the
poorer classes to invest their small savings in copper vessels of
which they have the benefit, and which can readily be sold again
should money be wanted. This trade is carried on in a very picturesque
street, called the "Suk-en-Nahassin," or street of the coppersmiths,
where in tiny little shops 4 or 5 feet square, most of the copper and
brass industry of Cairo is carried on. Opening out of this street are
other bazaars, many very ancient, and each built for some special
trade. So we have the shoemaker's bazaar, the oil, spice, Persian and
goldsmith's bazaars, and many others, each different in character, and
generally interesting as architecture. The Persian bazaar is now
nearly demolished, and the "Khan Khalili," once the centre of the
carpet trade, and the most beautiful of all, is now split up into a
number of small curio shops, for the people are becoming Europeanized,
and the Government, alas! appear to have no interest in the
preservation of buildings of great historic interest and beauty.
One other feature of old Cairo I must notice before leaving the
subject. In the old days of long caravan journeys, when merchants from
Persia, India, and China brought their wares to Cairo overland, it was
their custom to travel in strong companies capable of resisting
possible attacks by the wild desert tribes, and in Cairo special
"khans," or inns, were built to accommodate the different
nationalities or trades. In the central court the horses and camels of
the different caravans were tethered; surrounding it, and raised
several feet above the ground, were numerous bays in which the goods
were exposed for sale. Above, several storeys provided sleeping
accommodation for the travellers. Like the bazaars, many of these
khans are very ancient, and are most interesting architecturally as
well as being fast disappearing relics of days which, until the
introduction of railways and steamers, perpetuated in our own time
conditions of life and trade which had continued uninterruptedly since
that time so long ago when Joseph first built his store cities and
granaries in Egypt.
It is impossible in a few pages to convey any real impression of
Cairo, and I have only attempted to describe a few of its most
characteristic features. There is, however, a great deal more to
see--the citadel, built by that same Saladin against whom our
crusaders fought in Palestine, and which contains many ancient mosques
and other buildings of historic interest, and the curious well called
Joseph's Well, where, by means of many hundreds of stone steps, the
visitor descends into the heart of the rock upon which the citadel is
built, and which until recently supplied it with water. Close by is
the parapet from which the last of the Memluks made his desperate
leap for freedom, and became sole survivor of his class so
treacherously murdered by Mohammed Ali; behind, crowning the Mokhattam
Hills, is the little fort built by Napoleon the Great to command the
city, while in every direction are views almost impossible of
description. To the east is that glorious cemetery known as the "tombs
of the khalifs," which contains many of the finest architectural gems
of mediaeval Egypt; to the west is Fostat, the original "city of the
tent," from which Cairo sprang, while over the rubbish heaps of old
Babylon, the Roman aqueduct stretches towards Rhoda, that beautiful
garden island on whose banks tradition has it that the infant Moses
was found, while still further across the river, sail-dotted and
gleaming in the sun, the great Pyramids mark the limit of the Nile
Valley and the commencement of that enormous desert which stretches to
the Atlantic Ocean. Looking south, past Memphis and the Pyramids of
Sakkara and Darshur, the Nile loses itself in the distant heat
haze, while to the north is stretched before us the fertile plains of
the Delta.
[Illustration: A STREET IN CAIRO.]
At our feet lies the wonderful Arab town, whose domes and minarets
rise high above the dwellings which screen the streets from view, but
whose seething life is evidenced by the dull roar which reaches you
even at this distance. It is a city of sunlight, rich in buildings of
absorbing interest and ablaze with colour. As for the people, ignorant
and noisy though they are, they have much good-humour and simple
kindness in their natures, and it is worth notice that a stranger may
walk about in safety in the most squalid quarters of the city, and of
what European capital could this be said?