Of These Birkets, One
Is For The Egyptian Caravan; Another For The Syrian:
They were
constructed in A.H. 821, are entirely cased with stone, and continue in
a state of perfect repair.
Similar monuments of the munificent Turkish
Sul-tans are found at every station of the Hadj, from Medina as far as
Damascus and Aleppo. Some of those which I saw to the southward of
Damascus, appeared more solid in their construction than the birkets of
Mekka: that appropriated to the Egyptian pilgrims is about one hundred
and sixty feet square, and from thirty to thirty-five feet in depth.
When the birket contains from eight to ten feet of water, the supply is
deemed sufficient for the caravan. These reservoirs are never completely
filled. As the aqueduct furnishes water but scantily, adjoining to the
western birket are some acres, irrigated by means of a well, and
producing vegetables. Near it, also, is a small mosque, called Djama e
Soleymanye, in a state of decay, and no longer used for religious
purposes; but serving, at present, to lodge a few Turkish soldiers. It
belongs to the quarter named El Soleymanye, which extends from Djebel
Lala close to the western mountain, as far as the cemeteries beyond the
birkets. It does not contain any good houses; and I heard that it
derives its name from the Soleymanye, as the Muselmans call the people
of Kandahar, Afghanistan, Cashmere, and several other countries on this
side of the Indus. It is said that some descendants of those people who
were the original settlers, still reside here, mixed with many Indians.
It appears, however, from Kotobeddyn's history, that Sultan Solyman
erected, about A.H. 980, a mosque in this quarter.
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