72 WESTERN MOSQUE. 
mosque is constructed of sun-dried bricks, of nearly the 
same form as those made in Europe. The walls are rough- 
cast with a kind of coarse sand, similar to that of which the 
bricks are made, mixed with the gluten of rice. In some 
parts of the desert there is found a very hard ash-coloured 
earth, in which sand predominates. This earth has been 
used in making the bricks for the mosque. The rest of the 
edifice appears to have been built after the western part was 
in ruins. Though the new part is very well for a people 
ignorant of architecture, it is greatly inferior to the ancient 
remains. 
1 was surprised to find in the ancient part three gal- 
leries, each supported by ten arcades, as well built as if they 
had been the work of a skilful architect. The arches are 
six feet wide and ten high ; there the plaster is in an ex- 
cellent state, and appears to have been white- washed. 
The style and the position of this building connect it with 
the ruins. I am inclined to think that the mosque consisted 
originally of this part only, and that additions were after- 
wards made to it. 
The eastern part is composed of six galleries ; those 
of the west are supported by nineteen pillars. The aper- 
tures are each six feet and a half wide, and ten or eleven 
high. The workmanship, though pretty well executed, is, 
as I have already observed, far from equalling that of the 
other quarter. The first three galleries on the east side» 
are one hundred and four ordinary paces=^ long, and about 
two and a half broad : the three next are only sixty-four 
long. The length of those on the west is only thirty nine 
paces. They lead to the great tower, which faces an inner 
court, closed on the west by the ruins. It is of a square 
form, but terminates in a small truncated pyramid, vv^hich is 
also built of brick and surmounted by a pot of baked earth. 
* Of about two feet. 
