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

MOSQUE OF AMR. 75
execution, that characterize the monuments of
a race gifted with an intuitive perception of the
beautiful, and already far advanced in civiliza-
tion; and bears that peculiar stamp of developed
Arabian art, which pervades all the public
monuments of Cairo, and renders it at once
the most striking and the most beautiful of all
the cities of the East.
The mosque of Amr contains nothing of re-
markable interest except some fine pillars, to
two of which miraculous powers have been at-
tributed. They are placed so close together
that it is difficult for any but a very slender per-
son to pass between them, and the popular belief
here is, that the test of a man being a true
believer, consists in the possibility of his passing
through the narrow opening, and that no infidel
could ever accomplish such a feat ! Well,
our
cicerone, after gravely assuring us of this fact,
proceeded to illustrate it by passing in person
between the columns; when, lo, and behold!
being rather in good case, he stuck fast between
them, and no efforts of his own or of ours could
drag him through. He returned again and
again to the charge, but all in vain,—the columns
were inexorably stiff-backed, and were not to be
propitiated into the least degree of elasticity in