Identifier: mentonecairocorf00wool (find matches)
Title: Mentone, Cairo and Corfu
Year: 1896 (1890s)
Authors: Woolson, Constance Fenimore, 1840-1894
Subjects:
Publisher: New York : Harper & Brothers
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: The Library of Congress

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rk of the Cairo mosques is composed of smallplates of marble and of mother-of-pearl arranged ingeometrical designs; the delicacy of the minute cubesemployed, and the intricacy of the patterns, are marvel-lous ; the color is faint, unless turquoise has been added;but the glitter of the mother-of-pearl gives the wholean appearance like that of jewelry. Upon our depart-ure five blind men were found drawn up in a line atthe door. It would not have been difficult to collectfifty. Another day, as my donkey was taking me under astone arch, I saw on one side a flight of steps whichseemed to say Come! At the top of the steps Ifound a picture. It was a mosque of the early pattern,with a large square court open to the sky. In the cen-tre of this court was a well, under a marble dome, andhere grew half a dozen palm-trees. Across the far endextended the sanctuary, which was approached througharcades of massive pillars painted in dark red bands.The pulpit was so old that it had lost its beauty; but
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TOMB-MOSQUE OP KAIT BEY 163 the entire back wall of this Mecca side was coveredwith beautiful tiles of the old Cairo tints (turquoise-blueand dark blue), in designs of foliage, with here and therean entire tree. This splendid wall was in itself wortha journey. A few single tiles had been inserted at ran-dom in the great red columns, reminding one of themajolica plates which tease the eyes of those who carefor such things—set impossibly high as they are—inthe campaniles of old Italian churches along the Pisancoast. It may be asked, What is the shape of a mosque—its exterior ? What is it like ? You are more sureabout this shape before you reach the Khedives citythan you are when you have arrived there; and afteryou have visited three or four mosques each day for aweek, the clearness of your original idea, such as it was,has vanished forever. The mosques of Cairo are soembedded in other structures, so surrounded and pushedand elbowed by them, that you can see but little oftheir ext

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