Africa . hops, renderingAlexandria one of the most brilHant cities of the Medi-terranean. It is lit with gas, and the Nile water is con-veyed thither by a company which supplies the wholeplace with the best drinking water in the The traveller is now hurried from Alexandria to Cairo by the Government railway, the ramifications of which,extending over a total length of nearly 1000 miles, con-nect together nearly all the large towns of the Delta,besides extending southward along the river as far as Siut,whence the Nile navigation is open to Assuan. EGYPT. 209 The express train takesfour a
Africa . hops, renderingAlexandria one of the most brilHant cities of the Medi-terranean. It is lit with gas, and the Nile water is con-veyed thither by a company which supplies the wholeplace with the best drinking water in the The traveller is now hurried from Alexandria to Cairo by the Government railway, the ramifications of which,extending over a total length of nearly 1000 miles, con-nect together nearly all the large towns of the Delta,besides extending southward along the river as far as Siut,whence the Nile navigation is open to Assuan. EGYPT. 209 The express train takesfour and a half hours tomake the journey from Alex-andria to Cah-o. If thechange in the open countryand the climate is extraor-dinary, no less so is that wemeet with in the capital,which the Khedive seemsanxious to make the Parisof the Levant. The westernquarter has heen almost en-tirely reconstructed, and hasgrown considerably in thedirection of the Nile. Theother divisions of the cityhave also been pierced by. ^jMf SrUlOET IN 210 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGEAPHY AND TRAVEL. large open streets, only it were to be wished that the desireto convert it into a European town may not end in thedisappearance of its Eastern character, which would rob itof a great part of its peculiar charms and attractions. The first thing that a stranger generally does when hehas arrived at Cairo is to make for the citadel. Thisstands on a shght elevation, which, however, is a relativelyimportant one in the wide levels which surround it, and itis also occupied by some of the government buildings, andthe splendid new mosque which holds the tomb of MehemetAli. The panorama which one enjoys from the walls ofthe citadel is indeed a fine one, the most splendid certainly,excepting that of the Bosphorus, afforded by all the ones feet the vast city spreads out, the Masr elKahira, the \ictorious, as the Arabs are proud to call thequeen of the Nile valley,—a sea of houses, over whichrises a forest of taperin
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