Murad Bey has, of late years, thought it necessary to institute a marine; to effect which, he has caused three or four vessels to be built, and has purchased some from the Europeans. The whole has been attended with no small expense, and promises no adequate advantage. The largest of these vessels carries twenty-four guns. Six of them were moored before Jiza, whence they cannot be navigated, except during the time of the Nile’s increase. They were well appointed, and had their full complement of mariners, chiefly Greeks of the Archipelago, moderately skilful in their art, and receiving every encouragement from the Bey. They were commanded by a native of Sagos named _Nikôla reis_, Admiral, or Captain Nicholas. Not far south of Jiza is _Geziret-ed-dahab_, a small island, intended, as appears, by Diodorus Siculus under the name of _Venus aurea_. North-east of the city are gardens, and some spacious houses, the property of the great, who occasionally leave the city to divert themselves in this retreat; and have there an open space, where the Mamlûks perform their military evolutions, and exercise their horses. The ground under the mountains to the East is filled with tombs. The mountain is of white sand and calcareous stone, and destitute of verdure. The tomb of the Imâm Shafei is without the walls of the city, near the castle. It is in a mosque of good architecture, and kept in complete repair. On Friday, the day of devotion among the Mohammedans, the women being at liberty to visit the tombs of their relations, crowd to this mosque to provide substitutes, the place being the Daphne of Kahira, and sacred to the blandishments of Venus. There is a much more considerable canal, styled _Chalige ibn Menji_, which, from its opening to the Nile near Bulak, extends to _Bilbeis_, (according to D’Anville, the _Pharbæthus_ of antiquity, which Herodotus, Pliny, and Ptolemy, make the capital of a _Nome_,) where it joins another canal, and passes to the lake _Sheib_. The pleasure boats used by the great on the increase of the Nile are very numerous. They are light and of elegant form; rowers from four to eight. Those for the women covered with wainscot; such as are for the use of the men, are covered above, and open at the sides, or only latticed. Others are kept for hire, like the Venetian gondolas. They are used in the chalige, and upon the river. The gates of Kahira are numerous; but the most striking are two at the northern extremity of the city, called _Bab-el-Nasr_, and _Bab-el-Fituch_, which present a splendid display of Saracenic architecture.