The mimbars or pulpits are singular in construction, and are usually well covered with decoration (Fig. 354).
Fig. 354.—Pulpit of the Sultan Kāit Bey: Fifteenth Century. (L.-P.)
The remains of domestic architecture are not very plentiful—at least, of any examples of the best period of the Saracen style. The main idea in the design of the houses was to have them built so that people outside should see as little as possible of the inmates or inside, and that the women especially should see as little of street life as possible; so the first row of the windows was placed high up, and all the windows were thickly latticed, so that little could be seen from the inside and nothing from the outside (Fig. 355). An interesting and picturesque feature was the meshrebiyas, or drinking-places, so called because they were little projecting shaded structures of lattice-work, supported on brackets, that contained the water in vessels and other drinks; the currents of air that rushed through the lattice-work served to keep the drinking water cool.
Fig. 355.—A Street in Cairo. (L.-P.)
Fig. 356.—Lattice-work, S.K.M. (L.-P.)
The meshrebiyas are often very beautiful with their varied patterns of elaborate lattice-work, which is peculiarly Arabian in design. It is composed of many pieces of turned and carved pieces that are ingeniously fitted into each other to form the pattern (Figs. 356-7-8). In the museum at Kensington many examples of these lattice patterns may be seen, and also some of the meshrebiyas.
