cut below illustrates these costumes exactly, and also the mode of carrying water upon the head, and children upon the shoulder. I could not at first repress my uneasiness lest the little urchins whom I saw thus perched astride of tall women's shoulders should fall from

their berth; but I soon found that they could not only ride safely, but absolutely sleep on their perch without danger.

The out-door costume, then, of the Arabian women is anything but elegant. The men, on the other hand, even of the lower orders, have an ease and grace of

40

APPEARANCE OF THE PEOPLE.- -OPHTHALMIA.

dress which is remarkable. A turban of white, yellow, or red cloth; a full gown of blue cotton, or of woollen, generally brown, sometimes striped, cinctured by a red woollen girdle, and full trousers, make up their picturesque apparel. The very poorest class are frequently without drawers or turban, wearing simply a white or brown felt cap on the head, and covered merely by a coarse loose blue gown.

The men of Cairo are generally a fine-looking race, well formed, erect, and robust. What the women are it is hard to tell, under their enormous black silk shrouds. The eyes appear universally fine, large, and piercing, but perhaps much of this appearance is owing to the fact that no other feature is visible. One's imagination is apt to picture the faces to which these fine eyes belong as angelic; but doubtless there are many of them homely enough. The children are a miserable, sicklylooking race. Our sympathies were constantly excited, in passing along the streets, by their pale, wo-begone faces, matted hair, shrunken arms, and distended bodies. It is strange that such miserable beings should ever grow up to the robust proportions of the men of Egypt.

Many blind persons are to oe met in the streets. Ophthalmia is a common disease in Egypt, and is ascribed partly to the fine dust of the desert, which constantly pervades the air in the dry season, and partly to the bad food and filthy habits of the people. Russegger ascribes the disease, with more probability, to the saline particles deposited by the mud of the Nile, with which the air is impregnated constantly after the subsidence of the inundation. But there are many young men, in full health, to be seen, blind of one eye-not from ophthalmia, but a more painful cause. To avoid the con

scriptions of Mehemet Ali, the women have been in the habit, for many years back, of maiming their children in some way, so as to unfit them for military service. The destroying of one of the eyes was an effectual operation; and it was, and still is, done in many cases by the parents themselves. But the Pacha has taken an effectual way to put an end to this cruelty, by forming two regiments of one-eyed soldiers; and the evil is said to be already very much diminished.

After these cursory remarks upon the general appearance of Cairo and its inhabitants, I proceed with the account of our rambles through the city. We ascended to the citadel, which is built on a projection of Mount Mokattam, that advances from the Syrian desert and overhangs the town. The general name of citadel is given to the entire collection of buildings occupying this elevated point and commanding the city. Ascending by a wide, easy way, cut in the soft rock of the hillside, we came first upon that part of the citadel which is properly so called-the ancient fortress. Here are many buildings of vast dimensions, and once of great strength; but their walls are now rent and shattered in many places. Within the same enclosure are the Mint, the barracks, the palace of the viceroy, and a splendid mosque, which has been in process of erection under his orders for the last fifteen years. This was the first point of attraction for us. It must be at least 250 by 400 feet, stands on the very verge of the hill, and overlooks the city, the Lybian desert, a vast reach of the river, and a large portion of the Delta. The walls of the quadrangle are four feet thick, built of the yellow limestone of the mountain: they had reached the height of forty feet at the time of our visit. The interior is divided into two parts, of which the eastern,

occupying a third of the quadrangle, is faced throughout with alabaster, and surrounded with columns of the same material. This portion, I believe, is to be covered with an arched ceiling or dome. The western section is to form an open court, surrounded, like the other, with colonnades of alabaster. I was surprised to see such a profusion of alabaster, though it is not of a very fine quality; and I learned that it was obtained at four days' distance above the city, and twelve hours inland from the east side of the Nile. If this mosque be finished according to its present plan, it will certainly be a very splendid building, though irregular in its architecture.

At no great distance from the mosque stands the palace. It is partly old, and partly built by Mehemet himself. As we approached the door under the portico, we were informed that the great man was asleep: so, not to disturb his slumbers, we turned our steps towards the Mint. Of course, there was nothing novel here. The Arab workmen brought in a wooden bowl containing a quart of gold pieces, of 100 piastres each, ready for the die, and stamped several of them for our edification and buksheesh.

Joseph's Well is also one of the lions of the citadel. The celebrated Jewish minister of Pharaoh never saw it; but, although its name is false, it is curious enough in itself to be worth a visit. It is a square shaft about 12 by 16 feet, 270 deep, sunk in the soft rock to the level of the Nile, by which it is supplied with water, which becomes brackish in passing through the earth impregnated with salt. An inclined plane, about four feet wide, descends around the shaft to the depth of 150 feet, and is separated from it by a portion of the rock, which forms a low parapet wall. This inclined plane serves as stairs, at the foot of which, in a recess of the rock, is