appears; but this is foon fucceeded by a more pleasing View of green Corn, and afterwards of Harvest, in the Middle of a great City, and on thofe very Spots where Boats were failing a few Months before.

THE Castle of Cairo, faid to have been built by Saladin, is fituated upon a rocky Hill, on the South Side of the City. It has two Entrances, both on the North; one of them call'd the Gate of the Azabs, the other the Gate of the Janizaries. The Afcent by the former is narrow, being all the Way cut out of the Rock; but that by the Gate of the Janizaries is grand and spacious. This Castle is a Mile and a half in Compafs, and looks like another City, being furrounded by high and thick Walls, ftrengthen'd with Towers after the ancient Manner of Fortification; but as it is commanded by a Hill to the Eaft, it does not appear capable of fuftaining a long Siege, whatever it may have done before great Guns were invented. On the Weft Side of the Caftle are Remains of very grand Apartments, fome of which are cover'd with Domes, and adorn'd with Mofaic Pictures. It is probable these formerly belong'd to the Sultans, and have been fince inhabited by the Bafhaws; but this Part of the Castle is now taken up by a great Number of Artificers who work for the Government, and are employ'd in weaving, embroidering, and preparing the Hangings and Coverings that are annually fent to the Temple at Mecca.

FROM the highest Ground in the Castle, which is near a magnificent and fpacious Salon, commonly called Jofeph's Hall, we have a moft delightful Profpect of Cairo, the Pyramids, and all the adjacent Countries. Here perhaps was the Terrace to this grand Hall, which is now all open, except on the South Side, and is fupported by abundance of large Columns of red Granite. Some of the Capitals are good Corinthian, others very plain, and fome only mark'd out in Lines like Leaves. Each Pillar has an

Arabic Sentence cut round it, and over the Pillars and Arches there is a Sort of wooden Freeze, fill'd with Infcriptions in the fame Language. It is to be queftion'd, whether this Structure was ever finifh'd, and therefore we may conjecture that the firft Row of Pillars in the Front were defign'd for a Portico. They feem to have been brought from fome ancient Buildings, moft probably from Alexandria; for Columns of one Stone were fcarce in ufe among the Egyptians before the Greeks came into that Country, who difplay'd all their Art and Magnificence in the building of that City.

NEAR the Middle of the Caftle is a large Court, on the South Side of which are the Apartments of the Bafhaw or Viceroy, and alfo the great Divan, in which are to be feen feveral leathern Shields faften'd together, each of them almoft an Inch thick, with the Javelin fticking in them, with which they were pierced by Sultan Amurath, being preferv'd as a Monument of his Strength. Not far from hence is the Mint, where they coin their Gold, and fome fmall Pieces of three Farthings Value, call'd Medines, which are Bits of Iron wafh'd over with Silver.

In this Caftle they likewife pretend to fhew us the Prifon in which Jofeph was confin'd; but what has been reprefented by Travellers as the moft furprizing Curiofity of all, is the Well which they call Jofeph's, not perhaps from the Patriarch Jofeph, as it has been generally understood, but from a Grand Vizier of that Name, who had the Direction of the Work about feven hundred Years ago. However this be, the Well certainly deferves the Attention of the Curious, and therefore requires a particular Defcription. It is cut down through the natural Rock; but the Stone indeed is foft, and it would have been more difficult to have dug it if the Soil had been Earth or Sand, and to have built a Wall round within. We defcend to the Bottom of this Well by a Staircafe that goes winding

round

round it, above fix Feet wide, the Rock being left at leaft half a Yard thick between this Paffage and the Well, by which we are prevented from falling, or even looking into it, unless it be through Holes that are cut to let in Light at convenient Distances. The Defcent is very eafy, each Step being about fix Inches high, and five Feet broad; but the Place is fo dirty, that in most Parts the Steps are hardly perceivable. In this manner we go down to the Bottom of the firft Part of the Well, which is a hundred and fifty Feet deep; when turning a little to the Right, we come into a large Chamber (if I may call it fo) cut out of the Rock, where Oxen, by means of Wheels, raise the Water out of the lower Part of the Well to the Bottom of the upper Part, from whence it is drawn to the Top by another Set of Oxen above. This lower Wall is not fo wide as the former, and the Defcent is difficult and dangerous, the Stairs being narrow, wet, and dirty, and no Partition left between them and the Well to prevent your falling. It is likewife dug through the Rock, and is a hundred and twenty Feet deep, which added to the Number of the upper Part make two hundred and feventy Feet in all; and yet this falls fhort of the Calculation of other Travellers. As the Bottom of this Well is probably on a Level with the Bed of the Nile, or rather lower, it is conftantly fupplied with Water; but, paffing through the falt Soil, it is not good to drink, being a little brackish, and fit only for common Ufes; however, it is diftributed in Pipes to different Parts of the Caftle.

HAVING defcribed this Well, it feems natural to fay fomething of the Aqueduct, by which a Supply of better Water is brought to the Caftle from the River itself. At the North End of Old Cairo is a plain but magnificent hexagon Building, each Side of it being above fourfcore Feet in length, and as many in height, faid to have been erected by Campion, the last but one of the Mamaluke Kings of Egypt. It has an

eafy

eafy Afcent on the Outfide for the Oxen to go up, that turn the Wheels which raife the Water to the Top of it from the Refervoirs below, into which it is Jet from the Nile by a Channel cut for that Purpose. Five Oxen, and the fame Number of Wheels, are employ'd in drawing the Water to the Top of this Building, where it runs into a large Bafon, and from thence into the Aqueduct that conveys it to the Caftle. The Aqueduct itfelf, which is built in the Ruftic Style, makes a grand Appearance, though Uniformity has not been regarded in it, the Arches and Piers being of different Dimenfions; but the latter are moftly about ten Feet wide, and the former from ten to fifteen. The Arches are about three hundred in Number*. which are fome of them very lofty, but grow lower as they approach the Hill, where the Water running into a Refervoir is from thence raifed up to the Caftle by feveral Wheels one above another.

To the South of the Caftle lies a kind of ancient Suburbs called Caraffa, at the Entrance whereof are fome magnificent Tombs cover'd with Cupola's, fuppofed to be the Monuments of Egyptian Kings, or of the Caliphs, the Relations of Mahomet, who conquer'd this Country; and the People have fuch a Veneration for them, that they will not permit either Jews or Chriftians to pafs by them without alighting from their Affes, as an Expreffion of their Respect. Caraffa feems to have been anciently a Sort of Univerfity for the Study of Law and Divinity, but great Part of it is now in Ruins, efpecially the Colleges and Convents of Dervifes, of which there were formerly a furprizing Number. About forty of thefe Religious now live together in a Convent at a Place call'd Caffaraline, a little way North from the Mouth of the Kha

Travellers are not agreed as to the Number of thefe Arches, Thevenot reckoning no kefs than three hundred and fifty,

whereas Dr. Pococke makes them only two hundred and eighty-nine; and others vary from both thefe Computations.

lis, where there are fine Gardens planted with Orange, Lemon, and other Fruit-trees. Their Mofque is a handfome square Building, cover'd with a beautiful Cupola; and at the Entrance of it are hung up feveral Curiofities, chiefly of the wonderful Kind, collected by the Dervifes in their Travels; particularly a Giant's Boot, a Pipe of an extraordinary Size, and fuch-like Trifles. Thefe Monks affect an uncommon Sanctity, and are civil and communicative to Strangers. They are not the dancing Dervifes, of which Sort there are none in Egypt, if I am rightly inform'd.

ONE Day we took the Pains to climb up to the Top of Jebel Duife, a Mountain which perhaps has been feparated by Art from that whereon the Caftle ftands, and by which it is commanded, as has been already obferv'd. At the East End of it are feveral Grottos, fome of which are inacceffible, but thofe we could come at were Rooms of ten or twelve Feet fquare, and pretty lofty. Here is likewife a Mofque which takes its Name, as well as the Hill, from the Sheck Duife, who was buried in it; as were his Children at a little Distance from it, together with the Sons of feveral Bafhaws. Not far from the Mofque is a folid Building of Stone, afcended by ten Steps, and about a Yard fquare at the Top, on which a Sheck (or Prieft) goes to Prayers upon extraordinary Occafions, as at the Commencement of a War, or when the Nile does rife fo high as is requifite to make a plentiful Seafon; and fuch Oratories they have about most Towns in the Turkish Dominions. On the North-Weft Summit of the Hill, are two Caves cut out of the Rock, with Holes through the Roof to let in Light; and above thefe is a Place to which People frequently afcend for the fake of enjoying one of the finest Prospects in Egypt, taking in the Caftle and City of Cairo, and all the Country round, efpecially the Delta, as far as the Eye can penetrate. We defcended the Hill on the North Side by a very eafy Way, practicable by Camels themselves;