Its Seared And Jagged Flanks Rise Like Masses Of Iron From
The Plain, And The Crevice Into Which The Moslem
Host retired, when the
disobedience of the archers in hastening to plunder enabled Khalid bin
Walid to fall upon Mohammed's
Rear, is the only break in the grim wall.
Reeking with heat, its surface produces
[p.426]not one green shrub or stunted tree; neither bird nor beast
appeared upon its inhospitable sides, and the bright blue sky glaring
above its bald and sullen brow, made it look only the more repulsive. I
was glad to turn away my eyes from it.
To the left of the road North of the Fiumara, and leading to the
mountains, stands Hamzah's Mosque, which, like the Harim of Al-Madinah,
is a Mausoleum as well as a fane. It is a small strongly built square
of hewn stone, with a dome covering the solitary hypostyle to the
South, and the usual minaret. The Westward wing is a Zawiyah or
oratory,[FN#18] frequented by the celebrated Sufi and Saint, Mohammed
al-Samman, the "Clarified Butter-Seller," one of whose blood, the
reader will remember, stood by my side in the person of Shaykh Hamid.
On the Eastern side of the building a half wing projects; and a small
door opens to the South, upon a Mastabah or stone bench five or six
feet high: this completes the square of the edifice. On the right of
the road opposite Hamzah's Mosque, is a large erection, now in ruins,
containing a deep hole leading to a well, with huge platforms for the
accommodation of travellers.
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