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El Sahhara. 
El Sahhara is a temple which by its harmony with El 
Aksa may be considered as making a part of the same 
whole; it takes its name from a rock that stands in the 
centre of the edifice, and is much revered. 
The Sahhara is situated on a platform or parallelo- 
grammic plane of about 460 feet in length from north 
to south, and 399 in width from east to west, elevated 
sixteen feet above the general plane of the Haram. The 
ascent to it is by eight staircases, two of which are on 
the southern side, two on the north, one on the east, 
and three on the west. Almost in the middle of this plat- 
form, which is very well paved with marble, rises the 
magnificent edifice of Sahhara; an octagonal temple, of 
which the exterior sides are each sixty -one feet in 
length. 
The entrance to the Sahhara is by four gates, namely, 
Beb el Kebla on the south, 
el Garb on the west, 
e Djinna on the north, 
Davoud on the east. 
The Beb el Kebla has a very fine portico, supported 
I by eight corinthian pillars of marble. The others are 
surmounted with fine timber work suspended and with- 
out any columns. From the centre of the building rises 
a superb spherical cupola, with two rows of large win- 
dows, visible on the outside; it is supported by four 
large pillars, and twelve magnificent columns placed in 
a circle. 
The central circle is surrounded by two octangular 
•concentric naves, separated from each other by eight 
Vol, IX, 2 1 
