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mullah attended to assist the pious Mussulman in his devotion s. 

 This edifice, of marble or stone, was often surrounded by a garden, 

 or a tope of mangoes and tamarinds, shading a cemetery for such 

 pilgrims as finished the journey of life at a place where they only 

 intended a halt. The opposite gale often led to a tank, well, and 

 useful gardens: these were noble and expensive works, becoming 

 a wise government. As mentioned at Surat, they were sometimes 

 erected by the piety and benevolence of opulent individuals, who 

 could not have bestowed a more useful charily in a country 

 where there are no public hotels, inns, or houses of refresh- 

 ment. 



Sultan Ahmed, the founder of the city, enriched it with a 

 variety of other public structures, especially a magnificent jumma 

 musjed, or grand mosque, called after his name, which arrests 

 the attention of all strangers. It stands in the middle of the 

 city, adorned by two lofty minarets, elegantly proportioned, and 

 richly decorated: each minaret contains a circular flight of steps 

 leading to a gallery near the summit, for the purpose of con- 

 vening the people to prayer, no bells being in use among the Maho- 

 medans. From thence you command an extensive view of Ahmed- 

 abad, and the Saberly winding through a wide champaign. The 

 domes of the jumma musjed are supported b} r lofty columns, re- 

 gularly disposed, but too much crowded; the concave of these 

 cupolas is richly ornamented with Mosaic and fret-work; the 

 portal corresponds with the rest of this stupendous fabric, and the 

 pavement is of the finest marble. This mosque occupies the 

 western side of a large square; in the centre of which is a marble 

 basin and fountain, for ablutions, called the wazzoo, preparatory 



