The most usual architectural style of the entrance of a private house in Cairo is shown by the sketch here inserted. The door is often ornamented in the manner here represented: the compartment in which is the inscription, and the other similarly-shaped compartments, are painted red, bordered with white; the rest of the surface of the door is painted green. The inscription, “He (i.e., God) is the excellent Creator, the Everlasting” (the object of which will be explained when I treat of the superstitions of the Egyptians), is seen on many doors; but is far from being general. It is usually painted in black or white characters. Few doors but those of large houses are painted. They generally have an iron knocker and a wooden lock; and there is usually a mounting-stone by the side.
DOOR OF A PRIVATE HOUSE.
The ground floor apartments next the street have small wooden grated windows, placed sufficiently high to render it impossible for a person passing by in the street, even on horseback, to see through them. The windows of the upper apartments generally project a foot and a half, or more, and are mostly formed of turned wooden lattice-work, which is so close that it shuts out much of the light and sun, and screens the inmates of the house from the view of persons without, while at the same time it admits the air. They are generally of unpainted wood; but some few are partially painted red and green, and some are entirely painted. A window of this kind is called a “róshan,” or, more commonly, a “meshrebeeyeh,” which latter word has another application, that will be mentioned below. Several windows of different descriptions are represented in some of the illustrations of this work; and sketches of the most common patterns of the lattice-work, on a larger scale, are here inserted.[[17]] Sometimes a window of the kind above described has a little meshrebeeyeh, which somewhat resembles a róshan in miniature, projecting from the front, or from each side. In this, in order to be exposed to a current of air, are placed porous earthen bottles, which are used for cooling water by evaporation. Hence the name of “meshrebeeyeh,” which signifies “a place for drink,” or “—for drinking.” The projecting window has a flat one of lattice-work, or of grating of wood, or of coloured glass, immediately above it. This upper window, if of lattice-work, is often of a more fanciful construction than the others, exhibiting a representation of a basin with a ewer above it, or the figure of a lion, or the name of “Allah,” or the words “God is my hope,” etc. Some projecting windows are wholly constructed of boards, and a few have frames of glass in the sides. In the better houses, also, the windows of lattice-work are now generally furnished with frames of glass in the inside, which in the winter are wholly closed: for a penetrating cold is felt in Egypt when the thermometer of Fahrenheit is below 60°. The windows of inferior houses are mostly of a different kind, being even with the exterior surface of the wall: the upper part is of wooden lattice-work, or grating; and the lower closed by hanging shutters; but many of these have a little meshrebeeyeh for the water-bottles, projecting from the lower part.[[18]]
SPECIMENS OF LATTICE WORK.
From the centre of one row of beads to that of the next (in these specimens) is between an inch and a quarter and an inch and three-quarters.
The houses in general are two or three storeys high; and almost every house that is sufficiently large encloses an open, unpaved court, called a “hósh,” which is entered by a passage that is constructed with one or two turnings, for the purpose of preventing passengers in the street from seeing into it. In this passage, just within the door, there is a long stone seat, called “mastab′ah,” built against the back or side wall, for the porter and other servants. In the court is a well of slightly brackish water, which filters through the soil from the Nile; and on its most shaded side are, commonly, two water-jars, which are daily replenished with water of the Nile, brought from the river in skins.[[19]] The principal apartments look into the court; and their exterior walls (those which are of brick) are plastered and whitewashed. There are several doors, which are entered from the court. One of these is called “báb el-hareem” (the door of the hareem): it is the entrance of the stairs which lead to the apartments appropriated exclusively to the women and their master and his children.[[20]]
COURT OF A PRIVATE HOUSE IN CAIRO
Lane’s Modern Egyptians]