PANORAMA OF CAIRO.
Cairo is transported by Mr. Burford's magic art into Leicester Square; and the Londoner may lounge at his ease to the high ground near the Suez road, just outside the walls.
The point of view is on the whole well chosen. Many objects of his- torical interest are brought into the prospect,—the broad expanse of the city with its forest of minarets; the chief mosques; the great fortress on the hill-top, with the Pacha's palace beside it; the tombs of the Caliphs; in the distance, the Pyramids of Geezeh, the Nile, the highlands towards Lybia, the Delta, and a flat extending into space that bore the Biblical name of Goshen. Outside the wall, close by the spectator, is a curious assemblage of objects ancient and modern, barbaric and civilized,—the tombs of the Caliphs and Mohammed All's, palace; a characteristic group of modern Egyptians, with the Pacha and his heir at their head; and an omnibus making off for the Desert!
In some degree a panoramic view does not do justice to Cairo: the quarter immediately below the spectator consists of tumble-down buildings that have at once an unfinished and a ruined look. The magnificent mosques rise above them like an Italian priest in his pontificals among a crowd of kneeling beggars. A few figures in their gorgeous costume, the coloured architecture of the religions buildings, the immense palace of the Viceroy, no doubt tell of opulence; but the real magnificence of the Egyp- tian city is to be found in the interior: the narrowness of its lanes conceals from this point of view even what of ornament the outside of the houses affords, and the true splendours are in-doors. Cairo, like the wealthy Mussulman, hides its riches under a beggarly exterior; the supreme mili- tary power, and the consecrated glories of the ecclesiastical establishment, alone daring to rear themselves into the full light of day. Over all hangs a lurid mist—a solid sultry heat The picture—though, when we saw it, on Thursday, the mist was un- duly increased by a haziness of our own climate—seems to be painted with all the skill that distinguish Mr. Burford and Mr. Selous. The drawings were furnished by Mr. David Roberts.
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