File:Mentone, Cairo and Corfu (1896) (14597044418).jpg

Identifier: mentonecairocorf00wool (find matches)
Title: Mentone, Cairo and Corfu
Year: 1896 (1890s)
Authors: Woolson, Constance Fenimore, 1840-1894
Subjects:
Publisher: New York : Harper & Brothers
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: The Library of Congress

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e presentgovernment whose duty is the- preservation of themonuments of Arabian art; occasionally, therefore, ina mosque one finds scaffolding in place and a generaldismantlement. One can only hope for the best — inmuch the same spirit in which one hopes when one 158 sees the beautiful old front of St. Marks, Venice,gradually encroached upon by the new raw timbers.But in Cairo, at least, the work of repairing goes onvery slowly; three hundred mosques, probably, out ofthe four hundred still remain untouched, and many ofthese are adorned with a delicate beauty which is un-rivalled. I know no quest so enchanting as a searchthrough the winding lanes of the old quarters for thesegems of Saracenic taste, which no guide-book has as yet chronicled, no g? dragoman discover-ed. The street is sonarrow that yourdonkey fills almostall the space ; pass-ers-by are obligedto flatten themselvesagainst the walls inresponse to the Ori-ental adjurations ofyour donkey-boy be-hind: Take heed,O maid ! Your
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BEFORE THE LITTf-E MOSQUE From a photograph by Sebah, Cairo 159 foot, 0 chief ! Presently you see a minaret—there isalways a minaret somewhere ; but it is not alwayseasy to find the mosque to which it belongs, hidden,perhaps, as it is, behind other buildings in the crowdedlabyrinth. At length you observe a door with a dabor two of the well-known Saracenic honeycomb-workabove it; instantly you dismount, climb the steps, andlook in. You are almost sure to find treasures, eitherfragments of the pearly Cairo mosaic, or a wonderfulceiling, or gilded Kufic (old Arabian text) inscriptionsand arabesques, or remains of the ancient coloredglass which changes its tint hour by hour. Best of all,sometimes you find a space open to the sky, with afountain in the centre, the whole surrounded by arcadesof marble columns adorned with hanging lamps (or,rather, with the bronze chains which once carried thelamps), and with suspended ostrich, eggs—the emblemsof good-luck. One day, when my donkey was ma

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