y articles of Arab furniture with which we are now so
familiar in England.

Picturesque as all the streets of Cairo are, they are not all so
animated as those I have described, and in many quarters one may ride
for miles through streets so narrow that no vehicle could pass, and so
silent as to appear deserted. Very often their projecting upper
storeys almost touch across the street, and make it so dark as to be
almost like a tunnel. The handsome doorways also are often half buried
in the debris which for three hundred years or more has been
accumulating in the narrow lanes, so much so that in many cases the
doors cannot be opened at all. There is an air of decay and sadness
in many of these quarters, for these half ruinous houses, once the
palaces of the Memluks, are now the habitations of the lowest of
the people, and poverty and squalor reign where once had been gaiety
and the fashionable life of Cairo.

CHAPTER IV

CAIRO--II

Fascinating though the streets of Cairo are, continuous sight-seeing
in the heat and glare is tiring, and it is always a pleasant change to
escape from the movement and bustle outside, and enjoy the quietude of
some cool mosque or palace courtyard.

Having described the exterior of the native house, it will interest
you to know what it is like inside. Entering from the street, one
usually has to descend one or more steps to the entrance hall or
passage, which, in the case of the older houses, is invariably built
with at least one turning, so that no one from the street could see
into the interior court or garden should the door be open, for privacy
was always jealously guarded by the Mohammedans. On one side is a
raised stone platform, seat for the "boab" or door-keeper, and other
servants of the house. Passing through this passage, we reach the
courtyard, which is often very large and open to the sky, and into
which most of the windows of the house open. On one side is a large
recess or bay raised slightly above the pavement of the court, and
furnished with benches of carved wood. The beams of the ceiling and
handsome cornice are richly ornamented with carving and illumination,
and the heavy beam which spans the entrance is supported by a pillar
of elegant shape and proportion. Here, or in the "mandara"[3] inside
the house, the Arab host receives his male guests. On the most shady
side of the court are placed the "zirs," while several doors lead
to the harim, as the ladies' quart