They have each a small garden, which supplies common vegetables, and a breed of tame fowls, together with a well of water, within the walls; the rest of the necessaries of life are provided them by the voluntary contributions of the Christians of their own persuasion; and as the business of artificers and menials is all performed by the monastics themselves, their expenses are not very extended. The entrance to each is by a small trap-door, against which two great mill-stones are rolled within. The buildings appear to have lasted several centuries, and the walls are still firm and substantial. No praise is to be given to the religious for cleanliness; but as the list of their furniture and apparel is very small, they cannot be frequently renewed; human beings more ignorant of mankind and their transactions than some of those whom I conversed with, are scarcely any where to be seen. But the superiors in both were in a certain degree intelligent. One of them, when I was admitted, was mending his shoes, and seemed to think little of theological controversies. The other attempted to prove to me the Eutychian tenet of monothelism, and on my expressing myself persuaded by his arguments, he seemed highly gratified. Indeed I met with on their part every mark of hospitality. I inquired for MSS. and saw in one of the convents several books in the Coptic, Syriac, and Arabic languages. Among these were an Arabo-Coptic Lexicon. The works of St. Gregory, and the Old and New Testament in Arabic. The superior told me they had near eight hundred volumes; but positively refused to part with any of them, nor could I see any more. The monks are strangers to all idioms but the vulgar Arabic. Having thus spent two days and part of a third in the vicinity of the lakes, my attendants grew impatient, and I was obliged to return. After a short interval, having re-embarked for Kahira, I arrived there on the 16th May 1792[8]. CHAP. V. KAHIRA. _Topography — Government of Kahira and of Egypt — Pasha and Beys — Mamlûks — Birth, education, dress, arms, pay — Estimate of their military skill — Power and revenue of the Beys — The Chalige — The NILE — Mosques, Baths, and Okals — Houses — Manners and customs — Classes of people — Account of the Copts._ A residence in Kahira at distinct intervals, but extending in all to eleven months, may enable me to attempt some account of this celebrated city, with perhaps more advantages than have fallen to the lot of any recent traveller. A cursory glance of the manners and customs of a people is often fallacious, and a temporary exception is liable to be converted into a general rule.