EASTERN MOSQUE. 75 
The mosque itself is thirty paces long and five and 
twenty wide. The arcades which are three feet and a half 
wide and seven and a half high are built of the same bricks 
as those of the western mosque. There is an inner court, 
which must be passed through before we can ascend the 
tower. No part of this mosque is in ruins, though it ap- 
pears very old. It is not very regularly built. 1 remarked 
that it had two gates looking to the south and one to the 
north. The western and eastern sides had no apertures. 
Near the mosque, on the eastern side^ are seen a small 
hillock of sand, and some buildings overwhelmed by the 
sand blown up by the east wind. 
In the centre of the town is a kind of square sur- 
rounded by circular huts. Here grow some palmce christi 
and a palm-tree, the only one I saw in the country. In the 
middle of this square is a large hole, dug for a receptacle 
for filth. Two enormous heaps on the outside of the town 
appeared to me to be also collections of dirt or rubbish. 
Many a time have 1 ascended to the tops of these hills 
to obtain a complete view of the town and to make my 
sketch*. 
A third and somewhat remarkable mosque stands 
nearly in the centre of the town. This likewise has a tower, 
but not so high as those of the other two. It has square 
arcades : the naves are seven feet wide and twenty five 
long. The front wall is ornamented with many ostrich 
eggs, some of which are also placed on the top of the tower. 
On the east side is a very extensive court, in the middle 
of which a balanites cBgyptiaca is planted by way of orna- 
ment. At the back of the mosque on the opposite side, 
some salvadoras. 
There are five mosques besides those which I have men- 
tioned 3 but they are small and built like private houses, with the 
* See plate 6. 
