Cairo, from the Eastdetails

[...] the Cairo of the “Arabian Nights,” of Saladin, and the Mamelukes, remains a great city, a maze of majestic mosques, latticed palaces, and brilliant bazaars, variously built of stone, unburnt brick, and of wood, all streaked fantastically with red and yellow paint, and quaintly ornamented in Moorish arabesque. The narrow streets, sometimes too narrow for any travelling beast but the donkey, often end in a cul-de sac, while other streets, winding, turning, and twisting, lose themselves in close, dark, mysterious courts, or come out upon acacia avenues lading to steaming baths and sparking fountains. The people of all sorts, conditions, occupations, and races, known among men, seem contented with themselves, and equally gentle toward all comers. The Italian, the French, the English, the American, and the german, jostle alike the children of Ishmael and the children of Israel, the Greek, the Copt, the Berber, the Abyssinian, the Nubian, and the Soumalan. (p. 557)