filled with lattice-work, and large window balconies supported on
carved wooden beams project far over the street. These are called
"mushrabiyehs," a name which is derived from an Arabic word which
means "the place for drink." Originally they were simply small cages
of plain lattice-work in which the water jars were placed to cool, but
as prosperity increased and the homes of the people became more
ornate, first the edges of the lattice-work were cut so as to form a
pattern, and the little cages presently developed into these large
balconies, which in place of simple lattice-work were enclosed by
screens formed of innumerable small pieces of turned wood built up so
as to form designs of great beauty, and behind which the ladies of the
harīm might sit and enjoy the air and the animation of the streets
unseen.

Unfortunately this beautiful work is fast disappearing; visitors have
discovered how adaptable it is to home decoration, and the dealers in
Cairo eagerly buy up all that can be obtained to be converted into
those many articles of Arab furniture with which we are now so
familiar in England.

Picturesque as all the streets of Cairo are, they are not all so
animated as those I have described, and in many quarters one may ride
for miles through streets so narrow that no vehicle could pass, and so
silent as to appear deserted. Very often their projecting upper
storeys almost touch across the street, and make it so dark as to be
almost like a tunnel. The handsome doorways also are often half buried
in the débris which for three hundred years or more has been
accumulating in the narrow lanes, so much so that in many cases the
doors cannot be opened at all. There is an air of decay and sadness
in many of these quarters, for these half ruinous houses, once the