While we were approaching Cairo, and were yet two or three leagues away, the dim outline of the everlasting pyramids could be seen, through the shimmering haze, softly limned against the evening sky, firing the imagination, and causing an involuntary and quicker pulsation of the heart. It was impossible not to recall the glowing words of the Humpback in the Thousand and One Nights, as we saw the pyramids and glistening minarets coming into view: "He who hath not seen Cairo hath not seen the world: its soil is gold; its Nile is a wonder; its women are like the black-eyed virgins of Paradise; its houses are palaces, and its air is soft,--its odor surpassing that of aloes-wood and cheering the heart; and how can Cairo be otherwise when it is the Mother of the World?"
Cairo and the Arabian Nights.--Street Scenes and Cries.--Camels and Donkeys.--Turkish Bazars in Old Cairo.--Water Carriers.--The Pyramids of Gizeh.--The Sphinx.--Interesting Visit to a Native House.--Mosque of Mehemet Ali.--The Rotten Row of Cairo.--The Khedive's Palace.--Egyptian Museum.--Mosque of Amer.--Whirling and Howling Dervishes.--Suez Canal.--Ismailia and Port Said.--Island of Malta.--City of Valetta.--Palace of the Knights.--Bird's-eye View.
Cairo is nearly the size of Boston, having a population of about four hundred thousand. It forms a strange medley of human life,--a many-hued crowd constantly pouring through its thoroughfares, dirty lanes, and narrow streets, in picturesque confusion. On one side the observer is jostled by a liveried servant all silver braid and bright buttons, and on the other by an Arab in loose white robe and scarlet turban; now by a woman with her face half-concealed beneath her yasmak, and now by one scarce clothed at all; by jaunty Greeks in theatrical costume, and cunning Jews with keen, searching eyes; by tempting flower-girls, and by shriveled old crones who importune for alms; by Franks, Turks, and Levantines; by loaded donkeys and lazy, mournful-looking camels--a motley group. The water-carrier, with his goatskin filled and swung across his back, divides the way with the itinerant cook and his portable kitchen. In short, it is the ideal city of the Arabian Nights. The Esbekyeh is the Broadway of Cairo, and its contrast to the mass of narrow lanes and passages where the native bazars are located, as well as the dingy houses of the populace, only adds to its brilliancy.