Peeps at Many Lands: Egypt | Page 9

before meat. The walls
are usually plain, and are only broken by the "dulab," or wall cupboard,
in which pipes and other articles are kept. The ceiling is heavily
beamed and illuminated, or covered with appliqué work in some rich
design, the spaces variously coloured or picked out in gold.
[Footnote 3: Guest chamber.]
For cold weather another similar room is provided in the interior of the
house much as the one I have described, but with the addition of a
cupola or dome over the fountain, while the large windows, in the
recesses of which couches are placed, are filled with the beautiful
"mushrabiyeh" work we have noticed from the streets, or by stained
glass set in perforated plaster work. These rooms contain practically no
furniture, excepting the low "sahniyeh," or tray, upon which
refreshments are served, and the copper brazier which contains the
charcoal fire, but from the ceiling hang numbers of beautifully-wrought
lamps of metal and coloured glass. We can imagine how rich a scene
such a room would form when illuminated for the reception of guests
whose gorgeous Oriental costumes accord so well with its handsome
interior, while the finishing touch is given by the performance of the
musicians and singing girls with which the guests are entertained,
leading one instinctively to call to mind many similar scenes so
wonderfully described in the "Arabian Nights." Many of the adventures
of its heroes and heroines are suggested by the secret passages which
the wall cupboards often hide, and may well have occurred in houses
we may visit to-day in Cairo, for, more than any other, Cairo is the city
of the "Arabian Nights," and in our walks one may at any moment meet
the hunchback or the pastry-cook, or the one-eyed calender, whose
adventures fills so many pages of that fascinating book; while the
summary justice and drastic measures of the old khalifs are recalled by
the many instruments of torture or of death which may still be seen
hanging in the bazaars or from the city gates.
Everyone who goes to Cairo is astonished at the great number and
beauty of its mosques, nearly every street having one or more.

Altogether there are some 500 or more in Cairo, as well as a great
number of lesser shrines where the people worship. I will tell you how
this comes about. We have often read in the "Arabian Nights" in what a
high-handed and frequently unjust manner the property of some poor
unfortunate would be seized and given to another. This was very much
the case in Cairo in the olden days, and khalifs and cadis, muftis and
pashas, were not very scrupulous about whose money or possessions
they administered, and even to-day in some Mohammedan countries it
is not always wise for a man to grow rich.
[Illustration: A MOSQUE INTERIOR.]
And so it was that in order to escape robbery in the name of law many
wealthy merchants preferred to build during their lifetime a mosque or
other public building, while money left for this purpose was regarded
as sacred, and so the many beautiful sebils and mosques of Cairo came
into existence.
Egypt is so old that even the Roman times appear new, and one is
tempted to regard these glorious buildings of the Mohammedan era as
only of yesterday. Yet many of the mosques which people visit and
admire are older than any church or cathedral in England. We all think
of Lincoln Cathedral or Westminster Abbey as being very venerable
buildings, and so they are; but long before they were built the
architecture of the Mohammedans in Egypt had developed into a
perfect style, and produced many of the beautiful mosques in which the
Cairene prays to-day.
As a rule the mosque was also the tomb of its founder, and the dome
was designed as a canopy over his burial-place, so that when a mosque
is domed we know it to be the mausoleum of some great man, while the
beautiful minaret or tower is common to all mosques, whether
tomb-mosque or not.
One of the most striking features of a mosque is the doorway, which is
placed in a deep arched recess, very lofty and highly ornamented. A
flight of stone steps lead from the street to the door, which is often of
hammered bronze and green with age, and from a beam which spans

the recess hang curious little lamps, which are lit on fete days.
At the top of the steps is a low railing or barrier which no one may
cross shod, for beyond this is holy ground, where, as in the old days of
Scripture, every one must "put off his shoes from off his feet."
The interior of the mosque is often very rich and solemn. It is