This citadel contains several splendid remains of an tiquity. Near the quarter of the Azabs, is that truly wonderful specimen of ancient art, Joseph's well. This enormous pit, dug all the way through the solid rock, is sunk to the depth of 276 feet. At the mouth, it is an oblohg square of twenty-four feet by eighteen; being eighty-four feet in circumference ; which dimensions arc regularly preserved to the depth of 146 feet from the surface. Here is a stage or floor in the well, from the middle of which, as it were, another well descends, of only fifteen feet by nine. This second shaft is continued 130 feet more, still through the rock, and terminates in the bed of gravel on which the mountain reclines, beneath the level of the Nile. A stair-case of gentle descent, cut in the rock, winds round the pit, with a thin partition left between it and the well, in which it few windows give a scanty light. In the lower division this pre caution of a partition is omitted, and the descent is of course perilous in the extreme. The stage or floor in the middle of the well serves a valuable purpose. It contains a large basin, and affords sufficient space for three oxen, that here raise the water by means of a wheel ; this water is poured from the string of small buckets connected with the wheel, into the basin already mentioned ; from which it is again raised in the same Way, by other oxen moving round the mouth of the well. This stupendous excavation, it is unnecessary to add, is attributed by the vulgar to the patriarch Joseph. Some have supposed it to be the woe k of Saladin, whose real name was Joseph, or Yussuf. For our own part, we are disposed to consider it as the work of a people much more scientific than the Saracens, and worthy of the same engineers who erected the pyramids. if this was really the site of the Egyptian Babylon, which is the opinion of many antiquaries, we cannot well suppose such a strong place to have been at the mercy of an enemy for water. Strabo, indeed, describes the water of Babylon as being raised by manual labour from the Nile. But this also is the case at Cairo ; for though the water of the we 11 probably proceeds from the Nile, yet percolating through sand impregnated with various saline substances. it is brackish ; for which reason fresh water directly from the river is conveyed by an aqueduct to the foot of tse citadel, whence it is raised to the castle by macl.inerr. The tower of lights near which after Pococke, contends is the real Babylon, is totally depen dent on the water of the Nile, and therefore could never have been a place of great strength ; whereas, that of Cairo prefers indeed the river water, but has, in case of necessity, an abundant supply within itself, and a well which bears every mark of the remotest antiquity.
In the citadel is also Joseph's palace, an uncommonly fine building, exhibiting precious remains of its ancient magnificence. The great hall, so much celebrated by all travellers, and of which the reader will find a hand some engraving in Lord Valentia's Travels, is truly admirable. On four gigantic pillars of red granite, four elegant arches of Saracenic architecture recline, which formerly supported the roof. The capitals of the pillars are Egyptian, and belonged to a more ancient building. Another grand apartment is adorned with numerous pillars of granite, each of a single piece ; all of these, except four, which have Corinthian capitals, are in the Egyptian style, and are evidently but the spoils of prior ages ingeniously enough combined by the industrious, though far inferior, hands of the Arabs. Opposite to this room is another, which commands a view of the whole city and neighbourhood. Here were woven and mbroidercd with gold, the rich green hangings, and the black covering of the Caaba, annually sent to Mecca by the grand signior. The walls of this apartment,
now filled with ruins, wc re covered with figures in ex quisite mosaic, part of which still remains ; as wet c those of a neighbouring room, with handsome paintings, and the names of the ancient sovereigns of Egypt.
Another object of attention in the castle is the mint, the only one in all Egypt. Here the gold dust and silver ore, collected on account of government, in Africa and other places, are converted into coin ; the gold into mahboobs, zingerlys, and funduklys, respectively of the value of 6s. 7s. 7d., and 9s. 6d.; the silver into pieces of one, five, ten, fifteen, twenty, thirty, and forty paras ; the value of the para being about three farthings of our money. The scandalous adulteration of these coins is a source of immense profit to the government : when the people murmur, some cannon are pointed at the town, which give instant currency to the money. On one side of the coin is the name of the reigning sultan, on the other is "%Iasi., and the date. The machinery for striking the coin is similar to that employed in all the European mints before the invention of Mr Bolton. Instead of flattening the metals by means of rollers, they beat it out with hammers.
The number of tombs in the neighbourhood of Cairo is enormous. All the different races of men have dis tinct burying grounds. The English are buried with the Greeks. The tombs of the sultans and of the M.-nieltikes are of white marble ; and these immense crowned with domes and minarets and gilt pavilions, are much more magnificent than the abodes of the living. This Necropolis, this city of the dead, is a little to the cast of Cairo, without the walls.
About a mile to the west of the city, on the right hank of du. Nile. stands chic (moo flourishing and po pulous town of Boulac. This being the principal port of Cairo, it formerly presented a scene of perpetual bustle and activity. All the various commodities brought up from Rosetta and Damietta, as well as those from Upper Egypt, were brought in litre in an infinite number of ,(sick of all descriptions ; litre NV as the capital custom I nose of Egypt, together NI ith an immense bazar, in rin theca Mal a TI 7! market. The magazines of rice, salt, nitre, and several productions of Upper Egypt, were also established in this town, including the large granary of the sultan, whence he sent an annual supply of corn to the sacred cities of Mecca and Medina. This town, however, we understand, is now a melancholy monument of French barbarity. Having joined Cairo in an insurrection against these oppressors, this unfor tunate place was entered by storm, given up to be pillag ed for three days by an? French soldiery, and finally burnt to the ground.
Fostat, otherwise called Masr-el-atik, or Old Mast-, improperly by us called Old Cairo, though greatly decayed from its ancient grandeur, is still a considerable town, being half a league in extent. Its ruinous citadel, chiefly inhabited by Christians, contains a large convent of Greek monks, who used to accommodate with lodg ing and provisions, the numerous visitors from Cairo, attracted hither in the hot months by the salubrity of the air, the vicinity of the liver, and the pleasant groves of the isle of Rhoda ; but of late the cruel exactions of the Albanians have compelled these industrious fathers to shut up their convent, and retire to a smaller building. Fostat contains three custom-houses, for the trade of the Said, and the famous magazine called Joseph's Granary, where is still deposited the corn of the Thebais, destined fur the provision of the troops. Here is the great church of St Macarius, in which the patriarch of the Copts is installed ; the church of St Sergius contains a cavern held by the Christians in great veneration, as being the retreat of the holy family during their abode in Egypt.