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288 OHental Cairo
another officer is pushed through the mud wall, purses of
gold are flung about, and the Nile is seen flowing rapidly
between the banks of the Khalig, and rejoicing the hearts
of the Cairenes who dwell beside it. Reserve and decency
are thrown to the winds, and all the world goes bathing."
The day we did go over to Roda to see the nilometer
we nearly succeeded in foundering on the way, though the
water we had to cross was not as wide as most roads. It
was such a very un- Nile-worthy craft, but all that could
be expected perhaps as they charge you one piastre 2^d.
per head—to take you there and back, and wait while you
peruse the island.
Everything looked exceedingly picturesque, for the old
Villa of Hassan Pasha which the jerry-builders did not suc-
ceed in demolishing, still spreads over the southern point of
the island, with perishing pavilions and a wilderness of
creeper-hung pergolas right over the nilometer. It was long
since anybody had lived in it when we were there, and the
writing of decay on the walls of that Pasha's pleasaunce was
as plain as the writing on the wall at Belshazzar's feast. It
was not greatly disfiguring, because the Arab has been rather
cheap in his taste for a century or two. But his pergolas
were as substantial and beautiful as garden woodwork ever
was made— pavilions of plaited trellis fine enough to be
the screens of mosques, though they were only to be inhabited
and embraced by roses. The roses here have a veritable
palace, with halls all round and halls leading up to the central
pavilion, and in the garden plots between are fine palms and
stately fruit trees, all, of course, left to perish at their wanton
will. Perhaps ere these words are printed there will be
nothing left growing but a few lean evergreens, and aftercomers
will be unable to picture it as we saw it, with clumps
of banana trees, whose broad green fans could hardly hold the
riot of huge purple flowers.
We wandered through garden and palace to lean over the
terrace at the southern point for the finest view of the Nile
in all Cairo. The view of Ghizeh's river-front across the
Nile had a touch of the beauty and stateliness of Damietta,
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