232 THE MOHAMMEDAN PILGRIMAGE. 



tremely handsome, — its sides being inlaid with mar- 

 ble and glazed tiles of various colours, which give it 

 a very dazzling appearance. Immediately before it 

 is a small fountain, where it is usual for the devotees 

 to perform their ablutions. There are a few steps 

 of ascent at all the entrances, — the area of the court 

 being on a higher level than the streets. In the 

 centre of the northern division of the square stands 

 a small building with a vaulted roof, where the lamps 

 of the mosque are kept. Near it is an enclosure of 

 low wooden railings, which contain some palm-trees 

 held sacred by the Moslem, because they are believed 

 to have been planted by Fatima. There are no sa- 

 cred pigeons as at Mecca; but the quantity of woollen 

 carpets spread on different parts, where the most dirty 

 Arabs and the best-dressed strangers kneel side by 

 side, have rendered this " inviolable Haram" the 

 favourite abode of millions of other animals less 

 harmless than turtle-doves, and a great pest to all 

 visiters, who transfer them from their persons to 

 their private lodgings, which in consequence swarm 

 with vermin. 



It is in the south-east corner of this division that 

 the famous sepulchre of Mohammed is placed, so 

 detached from the walls as to leave a space of about 

 twenty-five feet on the one side and fifteen on the 

 other. To defend its hallowed contents from the 

 approach of the impure, or the superstitious adora- 

 tion of the visiter, it is surrounded by an enclosure 

 called El Hejra, in the form of an irregular square 

 of nearly twenty paces, arched overhead and sup- 

 ported by columns. This space is encircled by an 

 iron railing about thirty feet high, of good work- 

 manship, painted green, which fills up the intervals 

 between the pillars, and rises to about two-thirds of 

 their height, leaving the upper part entirely open. 

 The railing is in imitation of filagree, interwoven 

 with inscriptions of yellow bronze, supposed by the 

 vulgar to be of gold, and of so close a texture that 



