orientalcairocit00sladuoft

Old Cairo 205
took refuge here, and that a little bed was made for our Lord
in this niche. As the American lady didn't seem to be quite
taking in what he was saying he explained : " This is where
whole Holy Family come from Mecca one time."
Even then that crypt was not convincing to the American
lady, nor, I may add, to myself.
I reascended to the nave : that, at any rate, was ancient, and
holy, and convincing. It had such old, old columns with the
usual Coptic architraves of split palm-trees and horse-shoe
openings above under a blocked-up gallery with antique
marble columns like the gallery of S. Agnese, or the Four
Crowned Saints at Rome. Abu Sarga, with its exquisite
screens and its atmosphere of antiquity, is a delightful church.
But the American could not enjoy it, for she had heard that
Coptic churches were full of fleas, and she had been in such
an ants' nest of Copts while the guide was insisting on show-
ing her the place of the Nativity, I could have told her
something about fleas, in which the church of Abu Sarga is
not the most eminent. When I got back that day I had only
taken two or three fleas with me, whereas once upon a time
going back from the Mo'allaka, I caught twenty-two while I
was in the tramway. But I have more to say about that in
another chapter.
Sitt' Barbara is just such another church as Abu Sarga,
except that it is not quite so large, and has not the reputation
of ever having enjoyed attentions from the Holy Family.
There are two other old churches in Babylon. They are in
ders within the Citadel, fortresses within a fortress : they look
more like a couple of farmyards. One is called Der Bablun,
the other is called Der Todros. Todros sounds as if he ought
to have something to do with Uncle Remus, but it is really a
corruption of S. Theodore. The church in Der Bablun is
dedicated to Sitt' Miriam, meaning the Virgin. Der Todros
is the most difficult to get into of all the Coptic churches ;
you might be creeping through a drain. Both have old
features and both have many fleas. It is quite necessary to
see them if you are making a study of Coptic churches, and
quite unnecessary if you are only a student of the picturesque