Whilst The Virgin Manifests Herself To Children On The Alps And
In France, Whilst Germany Sends Forth Psychography, Whilst Europe,
The
civilised, the enlightened, the sceptical, dotes over clairvoyance and
table-turning, and whilst even hard-headed America believes in
"Mediums," in "snail-telegraphs," and "spirit-rappings,"[FN#20]-I must
hold the men of Al-Madinah to be as wise, and their superstition to be
as respectable, as that of others. But the realities of Hamzah's Mosque
have little to recommend them. The building is like that of Kuba, only
smaller: and the hypostyle is hung with oil lamps and ostrich eggs, the
usual paltry furniture of an Arab
[p.429]mausoleum. On the walls are a few modern inscriptions and framed
poetry, written in a calligraphic hand. Beneath the Riwak lies Hamzah,
under a mass of black basaltic stone,[FN#21] resembling that of Aden,
only more porous and scoriaceous, convex at the top, like a heap of
earth, without the Kiswah,[FN#22] or cover of a saint's tomb, and
railed round with wooden bars. At his head, or westward, lies Abdullah
bin Jaysh, a name little known to fame, under a plain whitewashed tomb,
also convex; and in the courtyard is a similar pile, erected over the
remains of Shammas bin Osman, another obscure Companion.[FN#23] We then
passed through a door in the Northern part of the Western wall, and saw
a diminutive palm plantation and a well. After which we left the
Mosque, and I was under the "fatal necessity" of paying a dollar for
the honour of entering it.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 556 of 571
Words from 153835 to 154101
of 157964
