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which support the middle arches. The branch which 
opens to the left at right angles with the bottom of the 
central nave, is composed of a simple and very low 
vault. It is said that the Caliph Omar used to pray here. 
The branch which opens to the right is a similar vault 
with two naves. The vault of the Caliph Omar may be 
about seventy- two feet long, and the other appears to 
be of the same length; but it was shut by a wooden 
railing, so that I did not go into it. 
Under the cupola, on the right fronting the monbar, 
is the place appointed for the singers. This choir is of 
wood, and supported by several small pillars in pairs 
composed of various kinds of marble. 
At the side of the monbar is a niche, the entrance of 
which is ornamented with wood work. It is called 
The Place of Christ. It is used as a sacristic, and from 
thence the Imam issues in great ceremony to say the 
Friday prayer. 
In the last nave upon the left, near the nave of the 
Caliph Omar, there is a sort of chapel or niche orna- 
mented with marble, which is called Beb Arrdhma, or 
The Gate of Mercy. 
On the exterior part of the left side of the Aksa, are 
several ill-constructed houses raised against the build- 
ing, which serve as habitations to those employed about 
the Haram. 
There is in front of the principal gate of the Aksa a 
causeway 284 feet long, in the middle of which is a fine 
bason of marble, with a fountain in the form of a shell, 
which formerly supplied water. At the end of this cause- 
way is a fine staircase, by which the people ascend to 
the Sahhara, which is the other remarkable building of 
the Haram, 
