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With the exception of the great mosque, and that of 
St. Sidi Abulabbas, the patron of the city, whose tomb 
is in one of the chapels, there are no mosques worth 
mentioning. 
It is remarkable that the ground floor of the greater 
part of the mosques contains shops, store-houses, and 
dwellings. 
I perceived an addition in the form of their worship, 
which I had not before remarked in the east. Before 
the commencement of the prayers on Fridays, several 
singers recite some verses in the choir; an old man af- 
terwards walks to the foot of the preacher's pulpit, and 
takes in his hand a sort of cross or long stick, and turn- 
ing towards the people, says in a nasal trembling tone of 
voice, as if he were going to give up the ghost, " Al- 
lahou ak i bar, Allahou ak i bar" and the choristers 
sing the same words twice; after which the old man 
continues the whole form of the call, which the former 
repeat verse after verse in singing. At length the old 
man in a low voice repeats a sentence from the koran, 
in which the Friday's prayer is recommended; then lay- 
ing aside his stick, he goes away, and the iman begins 
his sermon. This small addition, which is practised in 
all the mosques of Alexandria, is imposing, inasmuch 
as it gives to the worship a degree of seriousness. 
The mosques are not richly endowed, and their mi- 
nisters have very small incomes. The imaum of the 
one to which I generally went had but four Turkish 
piastres a month; but the charities or voluntary gifts 
contribute to the support of the ministers. 
The ancient magnificent mosques, of which some 
travellers speak, no longer exist. Time, the Turks, 
