Ierusalem about seuen dayes iourney from thence: but to returne to Cayro.
There is a Castle wherein is the house that Pharaoes wiues were kept in,
and in the Pallace or Court thereof stande 55 marble pillars, in such
order, as our Exchange standeth in London: the said pillars are in beigth
60 foote: and in compasse 14 foote: also in the said Citie is the castle
were Joseph was in prison, where to this day they put in rich men, when the
king would haue any summe of money of them: there are seuen gates to the
sayd prison, and it goeth neere fiftie yardes downe right: also, the water
that serueth this castle, commeth out of the foresaide riuer of Nilus, vpon
a wall made with arches, fiue miles long, and it is twelue foote thicke.
Also there are in old Cayro two Monasteries, the one called S. Georges, the
other S. Maries: and in the Courts where the Churches be, was the house of
king Pharao. In this Citie is great store of marchandize, especially
pepper, and nutmegs, which come thither by land, out of the East India: and
it is very plentifull of all maner of victuals, especially of bread,
rootes, and hearbes: to the Eastwards of Cayro, there is a Well, fiue miles
off called Matria, and as they say, when the Virgin Marie fled from
Bethleem, and came into Ægypt, and being there, had neither water, nor any
other thing to sustaine them, by the prouidence of God, an Angell came from
heauen, and strake the ground with his wings, where presently issued out a
fountaine of water: and the wall did open where the Israelites did hide
themselues, which fountains or well is walled foure square till this day.
[Sidenote: Carthage.] Also we were at an old Citie, all ruinated and
destroyed, called in olde time, the great Citie of Carthage where Hannibal
and Queene Dido dwelt: this Citie was but narrow, but was very long: for
there was, and is yet to bee seene, one streete three mile long, to which
Citie fresh water was brought vpon arches (as afore) aboue 25 miles, of
which arches some are standing to this day. [Sidenote: Argier.] Also we
were at diuers other places on the coast, as we came from Cayro, but of
other antiquities we saw but few. The towne of Argier which was our first