of a spread
eagle: this is considered by the superstitious as the talisman of Cairo,
and is said to give a warning cry when any calamity is about to happen
to the city. Its origin, as well as most things of any antiquity in the
citadel, is ascribed to Saladin (Yousef Sala Eddin), who is called here
Yousef (Joseph); and Joseph's Well, and Joseph's Hall, are the two great
lions of the place.

The well, which is of great depth, is remarkable from its having a broad
winding staircase cut in the rock around the shaft: this extends only
half way down, where two oxen are employed to draw water by a wheel and
buckets from the bottom, which is here poured into a cistern, whence it
is raised to the top by another wheel. It is supposed, however, that
this well is an ancient work, and that it was only cleaned out by
Saladin when he rebuilt the walls of the town and fortified the citadel.

The hall, which was a very fine room, divided into aisles by magnificent
antique columns of red granite, has unfortunately been pulled down by
Mohammed Ali. He did this to make way for the mosque which he has built
of Egyptian alabaster, a splendid material, but its barbarous Armenian
architecture offers a sad contrast to the stately edifice which has been
so ruthlessly destroyed. It is indeed a sad thing for Cairo that the
flimsy architecture of Constantinople, so utterly unsuited to this
climate, has been introduced of late years in the public buildings and
the palaces of the ministers, which lift up their bald and miserable
whitewashed walls above the beautiful Arabian works of earlier days.

The residence of the Pasha is within the walls of the citadel. The long
range of the windows of the harem from their lofty position overlook
great part of the city, which must render it a more cheerful residence
for the ladies than harems usually are. When a number of Eastern women
are congregated together, as is frequently the case, without the society
of the other sex, it is surprising how helpless they become, and how
neglectful of everything excepting their own persons and their food.
Eating and dressing are their sole pursuits. If there be a garden
attached to the harem they take no trouble about it, and at
Constantinople the ladies of the Sultan tread on the flower-beds and
destroy the garden as a flock of sheep would do if let loose in it. A
Turkish lady is the wild variety of the species. Many of them are
beautiful and graceful, but they do not a