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Every garden is enclosed by mud walls, and several narrow by-lanes, just broad enough for a loaded camel to cross the suburbs in every direction. There are two mosques in the Monakh: the one, called Mesdjed Aly, or the mosque of the Prophet's cousin, is said to be as old as the time of Mohammed; but the building, as it stands, was rebuilt in A.H. 876.
Several rows of small huts and sheds are erected here, in which provisions are sold, principally corn, dates, vegetables, and butter; and a number of coffee-huts, which are beset the whole day with visiters. The side of the suburbs fronting the Monakh has no walls; but on the outside, to the west and south, they are enclosed by a wall, of inferior size and strength to the interior town wall.
On the west and south of the town extend the suburbs, which cover more ground than the town itself. They are separated from it by an open space, narrow on the south side, but widening on the west, before the Cairo gate, where it forms a large public place, called Monakh; a name implying that caravans alight there, which is really the case, as it is always crowded with camels and Bedouins.
On the skirts of the Monakh, a large reservoir, cased with stone, has also been made, on a level with the canal, which is constantly kept full. The water in the canal runs at the depth of between twenty and twenty-five feet below the surface; it is derived from several springs at Koba, and, though not disagreeable to the taste, is nevertheless of bad quality.
If we reckon on the average three bodies per day carried into the mosque through this gate, as well as the others, besides the poor Arabs who die in the suburbs, and over whose bodies prayers are said in the mosque situated in the Monakh, we shall have about twelve hundred deaths annually, in this small town, the whole population of which, I believe
On the west side, directly opposite the Cairo gate and the Monakh, the suburb consists of regular and well-built streets, with houses resembling those of the The broad street, called El Ambarye, crosses this part of the suburb, and has good buildings on both sides.
During heavy rains the Monakh, between the suburbs and the town, becomes a complete lake, and the S. and S.E. environs are covered with a sheet of water.
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