85 
under the name of El Haram, or the Temple of Ex* 
cellence. It is composed of the House of God, Beit 
Allah, or, as it is called also, La Kaaba; of the Well 
of Zemzem, Bir Zemzem; of the Cobba, or Place of 
Abraham, Makham Ibrahim; of the places of the four 
orthodox rites, Makam Hhaneffi, Makam Schaffi, Ma- 
kam Maleki, and Makam Hhanbeli; of two Cobbas, or 
Chapels, El Cobbatain; of an arch, called Beb-es- 
selem (in the same style as a triumphal arch), near the 
place of Abraham; of El Monbar, or the Tribune for 
the Priest, upon Fridays; of the wooden staircase, 
Daureh, which leads to the saloon of the house of God; 
of an immense court, surrounded by a triple row of 
arches; of two smaller courts, surrounded with elegant 
piazzas; of nineteen doors; and of seven towers, or 
minarets, five of which adhere to the edifice, and the 
other two are placed between the neighbouring houses, 
out of the inclosure. 
La Kaaba, Beit Allah, or the House of God, is a 
quadrilateral tower, the sides and angles of which are 
unequal; so that its plan forms a true trapezium. The 
size of the edifice, and the black cloth which covers 
it, make this irregularity disappear, and give to it the 
figure of a perfect square. I looked upon it as such 
at first sight, but soon discovered my mistake. 
I esteemed it as of the greatest interest to be able 
to measure the proportions of this building; but how 
to do it without shocking the prejudices of those of 
my religion? However, by dint of partial measure- 
ments and approximations, I obtained results, which, 
if they have not a mathematical precision, are at least 
so accurate that I can venture to say there is not an 
error of a foot in any of my calculations. 
This edifice has none of its sides parallel to the four 
