512 HEJAZ. 



The arches that front the great court are all crown- 

 ed with small conical domes, plastered and whitened 

 on the outside ; beyond these is a second row of low 

 spherical cupolas, amounting in all to 152 ; and above 

 them rise seven minarets or steeples, from the summits 

 of which a beautiful view is obtained of the busv 



v 



crowd below. These are irregularly distributed, one 

 being at each angle, and the rest at different parts 

 of the mosque. Some parts of the walls and arches, 

 as well as the minarets, are gaudily painted in stripes 

 of yellow, red, or blue. Around the whole colon- 

 nade lamps are suspended from the arches, part of 

 which are lighted every night. The floors of the 

 piazza are paved with large stones, badly cement- 

 ed. The area of the court is below the level of the 

 street, and surrounded by a flight of stairs eight 

 or ten steps in descent. From the colonnades seven 

 paved footpaths lead towards the centre, elevated 

 about nine inches above the ground, and of suffi- 

 cient breadth to admit four or five persons to walk 

 abreast. The intermediate spaces are covered with 

 fine gravel or sand. 



Nearly in the middle of the court stands the 

 Kaaba, the " navel of the world," as Ibn Haukal 



pearance of the town has altered materially since the ravages com- 

 mitted by the Wahabees in the present century ; but the view of 

 the Temple Burckhardt has pronounced to be tolerably accurate, 

 only the Kaaba is somewhat large in proportion to the rest of the 

 building. The view given in Niebuhr, copied from an ancient Ara- 

 bic drawing, is less accurate than that by D'Ohsson. The ground- 

 plan of the mosque in Ali Bey is perfectly correct; but his views in 

 Mecca and the Hejaz are not faithful. The view of Medina (vol. i. 

 p. 289) is also from D'Ohsson. That city has also been altered in 

 its appearance by the fate of war. The suburbs are entirely omit- 

 ted by the latter writer; and the mosque of the Prophet, being copied 

 from an old Arabic drawing, differs in several particulars from the 

 modern structure. It is to be regretted that Burckhardt was pre- 

 vented by severe illness from giving a correct plan of it 



