SERIES: Views From A Trip Around The World
ILLUSTRATIONS: Street Scene; A "Danseuse"; Crocodile and Ibis; Peddler; Cairo; The Banks of the Nile
SIZE: 3" x 5"
DATE: 1891
LITHOGRAPHER: Joseph P. Knapp, N.Y.
CONDITION: Good to very good, I'd say. This card is lightly soiled with somewhat rough edges and rounded corners. There are small creases or thumb bends at all 4 corners. (Please see scans.)
MULTIPLE ITEM SHIPPING DISCOUNT: I will ship up to 4 cards for the single base shipping charge shown. For purchases of more than 4 cards, the shipping charge will increase by just a small increment for every 4 additional cards.
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REVERSE TEXT: CAIRO, EGYPT.
This city was founded by the Arab conquerors of Egypt in 970 A.D., near the east bank of the Nile about 20 miles above the apex of its delta. It is surrounded by walls and lies in the midst of gardens and groves of mimosas and palm trees. The interior of the town is a scene of busy traffic, its inhabitants exhibiting oriental customs and costumes mingled with those of many Europeans. The latter are indiscriminately termed "Franks." There are various quarters divided off with reference to their occupants, whether Mohammedans, Jews or Franks. The streets of the older portion of the town form a bad contrast to the better showing of the modern sections. The place is intersected by a canal conveying the waters of the Nile from Old Cairo to all portions of the city.
The Citadel built by Saladin about 1166, stands 250 feet above the level of the town. It has undergone much alteration and now contains a palace and a mosque erected by Mehemet Ali, in the centre of which is a well sunk in the solid rock to the level of the Nile. The view from the Citadel is one of great magnificence; the city below with its gleaming domes and minarets, gardens and palaces, the river studded with islands, the pyramids on the north, fields and villas on the west, and barren cliffs on the east, backed by an ocean of sand. The Mosque of Sultan Hassan is called the finest in Cairo.
The streets are highly picturesque with gaily dressed traders, dragomans, mountebanks, dogs, donkeys and snake-charmers.
In the vicinity of the Pyramids of Sakkara are found the tombs of the sacred Ibis; these mummies are enclosed in earthen vases of sugarloaf form. Some of them have the beak, the feet, and even part of the feathers well preserved.
Population 1882, 368,108.
