CHAPTER XXXVII—STREET-LIFE IN CAIRO.
Cairo, old and new—A visit to the ancient city—The Nilometer, What is it?—Measuring the rise of the Nile—Moses in the Bulrushes—Tombs of the Caliphs—An Egyptian funeral—Curious customs—“Crowding the Mourners”—Water-carriers and their ways—A noisy tobacco-vender—Glimpses of the Arabian Nights—Among the Bazaars—Street scenes in Cairo—A cavalcade of Donkeys—Hoaxing a Donkey-boy—Amusing spectacle—Putting up a ride at auction—An Arab story—A Nation of Liars and why!—Mosques of Cairo—Stones from the Great Pyramid.
CAIRO consists of two cities, the new and the old, and they are two or three miles apart. Old Cairo is on the bank of the river, near the island of Roda, and is quite picturesque, being, full of narrow, crooked streets, where one must be very cautious to prevent being run over. The windows project so far over the street that they frequently touch, and it would be the easiest matter in the world to go from one to another. The city was formerly much more extensive than now, and many of its houses are in a ruinous condition.
From old Cairo we went to the island of Roda to see the famous Nilometer, where the rise of the river during the inundation is recorded. It is nothing more than a deep pit or well, with a column in the center, marked with a graduated scale. This Nilometer is about a thousand years old. There is a more ancient one at the island of Elephantine, near the first cataract, and history records that there was one in use at the time of the Pharaohs. Near the present Nilometer is the spot said by tradition to be that where the infant Moses was found by Pharaoh’s daughter.