The unhappy Abu Bakr's name had been half effaced by some
fanatic Shi'ah, a circumstance which seemed to arouse all the evil in
my companion's nature; and, looking close at the wall I found a line of
Persian verse to this effect:
"I am weary of my life (Umr), because it bears the name of
Umar."[FN#26]
We English wanderers are beginning to be shamed out of our "vulgar"
habit of scribbling names and nonsense in noted spots. Yet the practice
is both classical and oriental. The Greeks and Persians left their
marks everywhere, as Egypt shows; and the paws of the Sphinx bears
scratches which, being interpreted, are found to be the same manner of
trash as that written upon the remains of Thebes in A.D. 1879. And
Easterns appear never to
[p.432]enter a building with a white wall without inditing upon it
platitudes in verse and prose. Influenced by these considerations, I
drew forth a pencil and inscribed in the Kubbat al-Sanaya,
[Arabic text]
"Abdullah, the servant of Allah." (A.H.) 1269.
Issuing from the dome, we turned a few paces to the left, passed
northwards, and thus blessed the Martyrs of Ohod:
"Peace be upon Ye, O Martyrs!
