THE POPULACE OF CAIRO. 39

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 ! 0 man, take care ! 0 maiden, take care ! 0 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 AH 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 police-

men, 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 Egyptian costume,

which bears considerable resemblance to the Greek, and espe

cially the Hydriote, is simple and graceful. The colors are

dark— principally brown, blue, green and violet — relieved by a