It Is, However, Difficult
To Be Accurate, As The Four Colonnades And The Porticos About The Two
Great Gates Are Irregular; Topographical Observations, Moreover, Must
Here Be Made Under Difficulties.
Ali Bey numbers them roughly at “plus de
500 colonnes et pilastres.”
[FN#6] The author afterwards informs us,
That “the temple has been so
often ruined and repaired, that no traces of remote antiquity are to be
found about it.” He mentions some modern and unimportant inscriptions
upon the walls and over the gates. Knowing that many of the pillars
were sent in ships from Syria and Egypt by the Caliph Al-Mahdi, a
traveller would have expected better things.
[FN#7] The reason being, that “those shafts formed of the Meccan stone
are mostly in three pieces; but the marble shafts are in one piece.”
[FN#8] To this may be added, that the façades of the cloisters are
twenty-four along the short walls, and thirty-six along the others;
they have stone ornaments, not inaptly compared to the French “fleur de
lis.” The capital and bases of the outer pillars are grander and more
regular than the inner; they support pointed arches, and the Arab
secures his beloved variety by placing at every fourth arch a square
pilaster. Of these there are on the long sides ten, on the short seven.
[FN#9] I counted eight, not including the broad pavement which leads
from the Bab al-Ziyadah to the Ka’abah, or the four cross branches which
connect the main lines. These “Firash al-Hajar,” as they are called, also
serve to partition off the area. One space for instance is called “Haswat
al-Harim,” or the “Women’s sanded place,” because appropriated to female
devotees.
[FN#10] The jars are little amphoræ, each inscribed with the name of the
donor and a peculiar cypher.
[FN#11] My measurements give 22 paces or 55 feet in length by 18 (45)
of breadth, and the height appeared greater than the length. Ali Bey
makes the Eastern side 37 French feet, 2 inches and 6 lines, the
Western 38° 4' 6", the Northern 29 feet, the Southern 31° 6', and the
height 34° 4'. He therefore calls it a “veritable trapezium.” In Al-Idrisi’s
time it was 25 cubits by 24, and 27 cubits high.
[FN#12] I would alter this sentence thus:—“It is built of fine grey granite
in horizontal courses of masonry of irregular depth; the stones are
tolerably fitted together, and are held by excellent mortar like Roman
cement.” The lines are also straight.
[FN#13] This base is called Al-Shazarwan, from the Persian Shadarwan, a
cornice, eaves, or canopy. It is in pent-house shape, projecting about
a foot beyond the wall, and composed of fine white marble slabs,
polished like glass; there are two breaks in it, one opposite and under
the doorway, and another in front of Ishmael’s tomb. Pilgrims are
directed, during circumambulation, to keep their bodies outside of the
Shazarwan ; this would imply it to be part of the building, but its
only use appears in the large brass rings welded into it, for the
purpose of holding down the Ka’abah covering.
[FN#14] Ali Bey also errs in describing the roof as “plat endessus.” Were
such the case, rain would not pour off with violence through the spout.
Most Oriental authors allow a cubit of depression from South-West to
North-West.
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