A pilgrimage to the temples and tombs of Egypt, Nubia, and ...

92 EL KAITBEY.
stand outside of the Bab-el-Nasr, or Gate of Vic-
tory, at a short distance from the city, on the
edge of the desert, and each possesses its mosque
—graceful specimens of the Arab architecture of
the fourteenth century. But the Caliphs do
not sleep beneath them ; — their tombs, long
since destroyed, occupied the site where the
silk bazaar of Cairo now stands; and these beau-
tiful mausolea, now, alas ! crumbling
to decay,
cover the dust of the Baharides and Memlook
Sultans. Verily Egypt is the land of tombs !
and, from the first Pharaoh to the last Memlook,
its rulers appear to have thought more of build-
ing palaces for the dead, than cities for the liv-
ing ; the proof of which is, that their tombs still
endure, while their cities have almost all been
swept away—ay, even into oblivion.
In the principal mosque attached to the Mem-
looks' tombs, the one known by the name of El
Kait Bey, which was built by El Ashraf Aboo-1
Nusr Kaitbey e' Zaheree, is the print of a man's
foot distinctly impressed upon a black marble
slab, and said to be the foot-mark of the Pro-
phet. This relic is placed within a little covered
enclosure open at the sides, and our Arab atten-
dants marked their respect for it l)y reverently
touching it with their hands, which they after-