ing over the balustrade, that we see the immensity of the building, and from whence we can really take in its grandeur.

The first feeling of wonder and amazement over, one's mind naturally turns to the past, and in imagination we picture the scene of the 29th of May, 1453, when, at the moment the Turks broke into the church, a Greek bishop was saying mass. We see the golden altar, behind which rises the gigantic figure of Wisdom; the great paintings of apostles and saints; the cross, glittering with gold and colours and the polished marble pavement. The scene suddenly changes. Thousands of the inhabitants crowd within its nave, for the news has reached the city that the Turks have passed the walls. The frightened people believe the Conqueror will not dare to profane the sanctity of the church, and, therefore, they consider they are safe within its sacred precincts. But on comes the triumphant army of Mahomet II., driving before them the advanced guard of the Greeks, and spreading fire and carnage as they rush on towards St. Sophia. When the church is reached it is only a matter of a very short time. The doors soon give way, and the savage horde, full of fury and ready for any violence, are in the building. The sanctuary is pillaged, the statues are overthrown, everything of beauty is smashed to atoms, and the pavement runs with the blood of the slain, the women and children being destined to slavery; then, amid the shrieks of pain and the shouts of savage triumph, the blare of trumpets sounds and all is suddenly

quiet, for upon the threshold of the great portal appears the Sultan on horseback, surrounded by a brilliant staff of generals. He rides into the midst of the crowd, and springing from his horse, prostrates himself in humble adoration; then in a loud shout he proclaims the triumph of Islam : La ilah ila Allah (There is no god but God, and Mahomet is His Prophet).

While we are here in the galleries we see the faithful believers on their knees, with their foreheads on the pavement; others stand erect, with their hands outstretched; some are sitting cross-legged, listening to the Imaum, who is seated before a lectern and is reading passages of the Koran to them. All this leaves an impression on our minds which words cannot express nor time efface.

Our dragoman is anxious to show us more of the wonders. So, following him, we are first directed to a blurred kind of mark on one of the pilasters. This, we are told,. is the mark left by Mahomet II., when he entered as a conqueror, and who impressed the bloody imprint of his right hand as if to seal his victory. Continuing on our way, we see the "Cold Window," the "Resplendent Stone," the "Sweating Column," and the block of marble brought from Bethlehem, on which, it is said, was laid as soon as born Jesus, the Son of Mary. I was anxious to see the door, the wood of which they say was taken from the remains of the Ark built by Noah; and it was pointed out to me. We next walked through the side aisles, where are stored boxes and packages of all kinds, for people when

going on journeys send their belongings here for safety. Heaps of dust accumulate, and the spider, so cherished amongst the Turks for having thrown his web across the mouth of the cave in which the Prophet was concealed, weaves his thread peaceably about the packages, and the locks which no one takes the trouble to interfere with.

THE HOUSE OF ALLAH

J. J. BURCKHARDT

HE Kaabah stands in an oblong square (enclosed by

THE a great wall) 250 paces long and 200 broad, none of the sides of which run quite in a straight line, though at first sight the whole appears to be of a regular shape. This open square is enclosed on the eastern side by a colonnade. The pillars stand in a quadruple row; they are three deep on the other sides, and united by pointed arches, every four of which support a small dome plastered and whitened on the outside. These domes, according to Kotobeddyn, are 152 in number.'

The pillars are above twenty feet in height, and generally from one foot and a half to one foot and three-quarters in diameter; but little regularity has been observed in regard to them. Some are of white marble, granite or porphyry; but the greater number are of common stone of the Mecca mountains. El Fasy states the whole at 589, and says that they are all of marble excepting 126, which are

2

1 The shape of these domes is the usual Media Naranjia, and the superstition of the Meccans informs the pilgrim that they cannot be counted. Books reckon 1,352 pinnacles or battlements on the temple wall.

The common stone of the Mecca mountains is a fine grey granite, quarried principally from a hill near the Bab el Shebayki, which furnished material for the Kaabah.

of common stone and three of composition. Kotobeddyn reckons 555, of which, according to him, 311 are of marble, and the rest of the stone taken from the neighbouring mountains; but neither of these authors lived to see the latest repairs of the mosque, after the destruction occasioned by a torrent in A. D. 1626. Between every three or four columns stands an octagonal one, about four feet in thickness. On the east side are two shafts of reddish grey granite in one piece and one fine grey porphyry with slabs of white feldspath. On the north side is one red granite column, and one of fine-grained red porphyry; these are probably the columns which Kotobeddyn states to have been brought from Egypt and principally from Akhmin (Panopolis), when the chief (Caliph) El Mohdy enlarged the mosque in A. H. 163. Among the 400 or 500 columns which form the enclosure, I found not any two capitals or bases exactly alike. The capitals are of course Saracen workmanship; some of them, which had served for former buildings, by the ignorance of the workmen, have been placed upside down upon the shafts. I observed about half a dozen marble bases of good Grecian workmanship. A few of the marble columns bear Arabic or Cufic inscriptions, in which I read the dates 863 and 732 A. H. A column on the east side exhibits a very ancient Cufic inscription, somewhat defaced, which I could neither read nor copy. Some of the columns are strengthened with broad iron rings or bands, as in many other Saracen buildings of the East. They were first employed by Ibn