Page:H. D. Traill - From Cairo to the Soudan Frontier.djvu/47



those who have seen many Oriental cities there is controversy as to which of them most conspicuously embodies the characteristics of the East. Some lay claim to have found in Syria, others in Persia, and yet others in India the type in question; yet one cannot help suspecting that if a vote were taken upon a sort of scrutin de liste of all the more famous capitals and great towns of Asia and Northern Africa, Cairo would win the first place among cities, as Themistocles won it among Athenian commanders. Everybody, that is to say, after putting his own special favourite first, would put Cairo second. The colour and movement and perpetual play of light and shade on an ever-shifting