THE POPULACE OF CAIRO. 89 erally carried me through in safety. The cries of the driver running behind, gave me no little amusement : " The Howadji comes ! Take care on the right hand ! take care on the left hand ! man, take care ! maiden, take care ! boy, get out of the way ! The Howadji comes ! " Kish had strong lungs and his donkey would let nothing pass him, and so, wherever we went, we contributed our full share to the universal noise and confusion.

Cairo is the cleanest of all oriental cities. The regulations established by Mohammed Ali are strictly carried out. Each man is obliged to sweep before his own door, and the dirt is carried away in carts every morning. Besides this, the streets are watered several times a day, and are nearly always cool and free from dust. The constant evaporation of the water, however, is said to be injurious to the eyes of the inhabitants, though in other respects the city is healthy. The quantity of sore-eyed, cross-eyed, one-eyed, and totally blind persons one meets every where, is surprising. There are some beggars, mostly old or deformed, but by no means so abundant or imper tinent as in the Italian cities. A number of shabby policemen, in blue frock-coats and white pantaloons, parade the prin cipal thoroughfares, but I never saw their services called into requisition. The soldiers, who wear a European dress of white cotton, are by far the most awkward and unpicturesque class.

Even the Fellah, whose single brown garment hangs loose from his shoulders to his knees, has an air of dignity compared with these Frankish caricatures. The genuine Eg3tian costume, which bears considerable resemblance to the Grreek, and espe cially the Hydriote, is simple and graceful. The colors are dark—principally brown, blue, green and violet—relieved by a