The views from some of the apartments, as well as that from the garden, are very lovely.
Opposite the palace a great mosque is being built as a mausoleum for Mehemet Ali.

The despot probably reckons on having some years yet to live, for much remains to be done before the beautiful structure is completed.

The pillars and the walls of the mosque are covered with the most splendid marble, of a yellowish-white colour.
The before-mentioned buildings, namely, Joseph's well, the palace and gardens, and the mosque, are all situate on a high rock, to which a single broad road leads from Cairo.

Here we behold a threefold sea, namely, of houses, of the Nile, and a sea of sand, on which the lofty Pyramids rise in the distance like isolated rocks.
The mountains of Mokattam close the background, and a number of lovely gardens and plantations of date-palms surround the town.
With one glance we can behold the most striking contrasts.

A wreath of the most luxurious vegetation runs round the town, and beyond lies the dreary monotony of the desert.